Main Links

[Isabella Brown]

Isabella made her way through the corridors swiftly. She had to make it to her area of the library before some brain dead students sat down and claimed it. It was possibly the farthest place that, other than those browsing the Herbology and Arithmancy, was pretty much deserted. It was a lone place, but that's what Issy liked about it. She smiled quickly at the librarian, who simply stared back at her as she crossed the room and went to the back. Her brisk walk was nearly wearing her out. She had gone at the same pace since the top of the Ravenclaw Tower.

When her spot came to view, blessedly unoccupied by the brainless pupils that could have stolen it from her, she sighed with relief. She smiled to herself and made her way to the desk. Pulling her bag onto the desk, she looked around to make sure she was alone then pulled out the letters. Oh how she hated the letters.

In fact, oh how she hated the ball that was coming up as well. How was she to hide her identity then? They were to take off their masks and every students had to attend. Was Hogwarts was against her? Did they just want someone to recognize her? There would be no way she could stand the humiliation if they did. No, no one would ever know. Not even Alister, one of her closest friends.

Issy sighed and opened the first letter. He even asked for an outift... well for the money he was paying she could transfigure something. She had never expected the Slytherin to want anything from her though. He had terribly good looks and could get an girl in his bed. She tucked the letter away in a compartment in her bag and opened the next. Too young, she destroyed it. Half way down, Issy laid her head over the small pile and just let her mind rest. Just to the end of the year, then she was done. She could throw it all away. No more secrets. How lovely would that be? Terribly lovely,Issy thought to herself.

"It's too bad I don't have a partner." She said out loud, leaning back in her chair to stretch her legs. Would be a lot easier, but then they would have to go through the torment she went through. No, it was better this way. Sighing, she went back to work, that is until she heard some footsteps and quickly, and may I add very messily, stuffed them in her bag and pulled out her latest check out book.

[Alistar Ichabod]

If there was anyone in Hogwarts that was hard to get a hold of (other than the Marauder's when they didn't want to be found), Isabella would have to be the number one nomination. Honestly, he had checked the common room (some little first year had mistaken him for a giant and had done what he asked). He had checked the Great Hall, outside, and he had even gone as far to wander about aimlessly for over an hour to see if he just accidentally ran into her.

Alas, it wasn't so, until he walked past the library. He couldn't realize how he had been so stupid, just assuming that a Ravenclaw in the Library was entirely too predictable, even though that's where he usually found Isabella when he simply couldn't find her. It was a little amusing in a way.

He smirked as he walked in, certain she would be there, and walked through the rows of books to where she usually was, a small little hovel among books that nobody read anymore. He heard the quick rustle of papers as he approached, and frowned lightly, wondering what she was hiding from him. Not that it was new, he knew that she was hiding something from him, something big. Ali wasn't the type to push a person for answers, preferring instead to let them suffer in their own guilt and eventually tell him.

Hey, nobody ever said he was nice all the time.

He dropped into the chair in front of Issy, grinning brightly at her as he propped his feet up on the table, carefully avoiding her things, and tipping the chair legs back onto the back two. "Hello there, darling, apple of my eye, sun in my sky..." Usually he only did this to her when he wanted something, but today he was just in a particularly good mood. An oddly good mood. Kelsey (bloody owl that made him more idiotic looking than he already did) had not appeared yet, he had found Issy, and it just so happened to be a Saturday. Which meant he was bored. Very, very bored.

Maybe he did want something - entertainment. Running a hand through his hair, he pulled his feet off the table and let the front two legs hit the library floor with a loud clunk, elliciting a loud shout of "Quiet!" from Madame Pince.

Alistar grinned lightly, leaning forward on the table, crossing his arms and resting his head on them. "How are you on this fine day?"

[Isabella Brown]

Isabella raised an eyebrow at his antics, leaning back in her chair to only nod as he sat down. What could he possibly want, she wondered. While she was secretly delighted, she knew that it wasn't quite true. How cruel was life? Letting her like someone like this...very cruel indeed, Issy finally decided to herself.

Issy smiled as she heard Madam Pince yell from across the library. Shaking her head, she should have expected him to make a ruckus . He was rather large and she could hardly think that he was quiet as a mouse. No, it was like trying to get a house elf to be taller than the boy. It was simply impossible. She silently wondered if he had ever met anyone human taller than him? Possibly not, but it was an interesting thought. It also got her thoughts going on what he was interested in physically.

Issy wanted to groan at his good mood. Lucky chap. She was stuck with many letters and even more studying. Folding the right top tip if her page, she set it on the desk. "I wouldn't be calling it fine just yet. Many things could still go wrong. I must also say that I'm doing...how do I put it politely...aggravated with the load the professors automatically give us Ravenclaws. It's almost like they don't want us to have lives."

She sighed dramatically and stretched her arms out, hearing one shoulder softly pop letting some of the tension out of her shoulders. It really was cruel how everything seemed against her with NEWTS and all. She had to maintain her identity and reputation, while study and do extra credit, and now get a dress, and on top of that stay social with her friends.How much could one handle until everything just fell apart. She wasn't sure but she was sure that it was possibly around where she was. Perhaps she should add the melodrama of house rivalry and see how she does. Not good, she was sure. There was no reason other than to aggravate and that was almost against Isabelle's theory of life. Almost.

[Alistar Ichabod]

He smirked at her answer, tilting his head lightly. He could practically feel the tension and discontentment melting off her in waves. His smirk only widened at the mention of having a life. "Yes, but that's only if you let them go wrong, Is'," how he had mastered the ability to speak so normally with such a wide grin on his face was a feat of its own, but he had been forced to master the english language (and french too) in a way no teenager should have to. No hesitations, clear, concise - always.

"At least your not a Hufflepuff, we are, apparently, too dull and stupid to be able to master anything above the bare minimum. When we're with the Gryffindor's, too - goodness, it's like being stuck in Remedial Potions, it's a slow form of torture." With Ali's desire to be a healer in the near future, there was no way that he, ever, would do bad in Potions. He actually enjoyed Potions quite a bit, he was one of the only Hufflepuff's that were in NEWT level Potions. "Really? You would have a life without homework? I must see this." He winked at her lightly, only teasing as he shifted his position more comfortably, wincing as her shoulder popped.

"You, my dear," he began, motioning to her and her books, "are entirely too uptight. I suggest firewhiskey, a good dose of Ali Ichabod, and Hogsmeade. Definitely less Library. This little area is depressing." He sat up, reaching to one of the shelfs, and pulling off a book. "I mean, look, who has read this book in the past century? Not a soul has touched it since Rowena herself stuck it on the shelves. The dust is clogging your brain, it's making you..." He lost where he was going, trying to find the words he wanted to say. "Less fun. Less fun, that was it. You need firewhiskey. I will bring it into the library if I must, but I'll drag you out first."

[Isabella Brown]

"Sometimes they can't help but go wrong. How could one be cheery when you have just heard of a death of a close relation? Not that any of my relations have died, it was just for the sake of explanation." Issy stated to Alister. Sticking her tongue out at him playfully, she laughed and rolled her eyes as she pulled out another book in which she had to work in.

"Not all Hufflepuff are dull and stupid. If you were we wouldn't even be talking. Talking to someone perfectly stupid gets tiring, you have to explain everything to them.You, Mr. Ichobod, are not dull or stupid, or even the combination of them both. There is no right word that's in any book that could describe you." Is stated once more. Why was she sounding so matter of fact today? Stress was a possible excuse, or it could be the strain of the letters that could fall out at any moment.

Isabella glared at Alister for a moment. "Haha," She said with dry humor. "Simply because I want a good life doesn't mean others need to take advantage of it, or." Issy gestured pointedly to Ali. "Make fun of it. I know hexes that could make a seventh year Slytherin run the other way in fear" Issy faked ignoring him, turning her back a little to him as she opened her book to the appropriate page.

"It is not depressing!" Issy said, defending her poor library. "It is a place of learning and I can easily get access to my books here." Fire whiskey might help her relax, but it also liked to fog her brain so she would say some of things she kept deep. Though, she had never said anything truly harmful. Just things she would never say if she was sober. Her father's scotch was better, she could take more of it before it clouded her mind. She had been trained by her father as well.

Isabella's eyes followed Alister as he made his way to the book shelf. "Nope, sorry to prove u wrong but my first year I saw Madam Pince replace that exact book. I remember it because she had nearly dropped it three times when she tried to get it back in. She glared at me because I was laughing at her attempts." Issy smiled cheekily before adding after a bit of thought.. "I believe just tossing me over your shoulder would be less work for you than dragging me. Though, I would be worried about if I hit the roof or not so perhaps not."

[Alistar Ichabod]

He was entirely too bright and happy for the tone and mood she was providing. Honestly, he could not understand her, she changed from day to day, fancy to fancy.

It was beginning to toll on him, trying to keep up, not that he minded. It was a great game, something he could continue doing for a very long time. Until the end of time - what was this rubbish he was spewing out? It didn't make any sense, not a bit, he should just go back to thinking silently.

He stuck his tongue out at her when she tried to deny him his fun, and shook his head before her slight about his height hit him and he dropped back into his seat, shaking his finger at her momentarily.

"Now, now, Isabella. You know how sensitive I am about my height." That was, of course, a height. He preferred jokes tuned from his giant posture, and didn't mind it one bit, he just wanted to worry her for the moment as he grinned again. "I think it'd be much more fun if you just came along willingly."

There was a great pregnant pause, but it was obvious that Ali still had something to say, and he wasn't ready to drop their conversation before. "Besides, the great bat -" that was code for Madame Pince, "does not count. She's had a love affair with each of these books, and honestly, Rowena too, probably." Cheeky, even more cheeky than her smile had been. Alistar had the mastered art of a cheshire cat grin, the cat that got the canary. It was brulliant to see, also a little unnerving. How pleased he could be by his little piece of inappropriateness. But even then... that wasn't the case.

"I'm as good as firewhiskey anyway! You just need to be around me more. My infectious mood today, it has to rub off eventually. Then you'll be running around making a fool of yourself just like me." Because that's what everyone wanted... no. People generally tried to avoid that.

[Isabella Brown]

Issy shrugged at his tongue, leaning back and doing perhaps the worst yawns on purpose, hand patting the open mouth and all. "You're as sensitive as a walrus, Ali." She shook her head and glanced at the page in her book. 203 in two days was a little slow for her. Silently she scolded herself, her expression going from glee to concentration. How could she have gotten so far off track. Alister Ichobob. He was the reason, and Issy was half tempted to just look up, it was only a quarter inch to do so, and glare at the overgrown boy before her.

"I have work to do, Ali, you know that." She pulled out a special roll of parchment out of her bag, only special because it was a check list. Dabbing some ink onto her quill, she quickly scribbled some more things she had to do on the list.

• Finish Potions essay about the difference of glubworms and glowworms
• Show Proffesor McGonagal how I do the furniture transfiguration spell
• Learn how to get quickly from Potions to Arithmancy
• Talk to the House Elves about their DELICIOUS food
• Make sure letters are gone through
• Cancel 'Appointment' with Jimmy Carter
• Get a date for the Masquerade - Not going to happen
• Find a mask for dance
• Clean up dorm
• Wash clothes
• Store old parchment scrolls away and pull out new ones
• Try not to stress out
• Get Fire whiskey for Ali

Honestly she only just added the last one, but she had scratched out the appointment with Jimmy. She had to use that night to study. She was terribly behind. Rolling up the scroll of parchment again, she glanced over to see what Alister was doing at the moment. Why did she even bother?

"I would think it was a one sided affair with the books. Poor Madam Pince, though I had seen her talking to a book once. Well, she might have been scolding a student on the other side of the bookcase, but it still had look strange. " Issy informed Alister. It had happened just last week, and Issy had been too terrified that there wasn't a student on the other side to check. What kind of role model did they have. "I'm sure Lily Evans took it out then, she's read about every book in the library. If not Lily then Remus has.. Both of them are bookworms to the fullest. Then there's Carlson and Rynsville that read a lot as well. You never know."

Isabella raised an eyebrow at his latest statement. "Oh, and I would want to make a complete fool of myself..why? You should be thinking about getting yourself a date for the masquerade. It's quite close and I've heard no rumors about you asking anyone to the dance. Get out there, mate. Surely there's someone that will accept." Issy smiled, keeping her own frown inside that he hadn't asked her. Not that she thought of him that way.

Denial... Her inner voice cried. Yeah right, she had met him only last month. There was no way that could happen. Besides, it was her new best friend. Why would she think about him that way? Because he's different...Her inner voice had spoken once more. She gave herself a metal shake, wishing her inner voice would learn when to shut up. He was different, but if he knew of the other side of her he would keep as far away from her as he could.

[Alistar Ichabod]

He sighed heavily when she called out his sensitivity, content to mess with her a little bit longer. "Have you ever met a walrus? I think not. Maybe a little lady walrus thinks her flippers are too big, or a male's tusks too long." He was obviously just making things up, at least trying to distract her more, keeping her in a good mood at least.

He bit his lip, pulling up a puppy dog expression up and watching as she claimed work and bent over another piece of parchment. Really, he was quite certain that her bag had a never-ending supply of parchment that was all "very important" and he could never touch it. She always seemed to be fiddling around with some piece of paper and he was honestly dying to know what was scribbled onto them.

"You should talk to Lily and Remus more." Ali affirmed, smirking lightly at her as she claimed other people actually read the books in her corner. He was certain he could see a couple written in Greek from where he was sitting, just to the left above her head. "They'd certainly be better than me, who only wants someone to drink firewhiskey and sneak into Hogsmeade with... Definitely more fun. Remus has got the Marauder's though, and I don't know what Lily does..."

Ali felt another wide smirk on his face. "Looks like you're stuck with me!" Ah, there it was, the bound - to - happen cackle that bubbled up before he piped down, definitely not expected an answer from her from what he just said, liking what she was saying now an incredible whole lot more. A... date? He was stopped in his tracks for a moment, confused. He hadn't even thought about a date... He needed a date to go to the Masquerade? That was unfortunate.

"Because making a fool of yourself is the highest form of entertainment." He said it so seriously, like it was the most obvious answer in the world, it was a little hard not to believe him. He frowned, denying that he needed to respond to her telling him he needed to get a date, before he grabbed her quill and parchment, leaning back in his chair. "Nobody spreads rumor's about me, I'm just 'that tall guy with the owl'."

He clicked his tongue lightly making small quick notes on her parchment before she could take it away again. Out to the side of "learn how to get quickly from Potions to Arithmancy" he wrote out "ali knows the way!" Next to the letters going through, he put 'Kelsey?', which was his little burrowing owl that was bloody annoying.

Then he got to the masquerade part, and crossed it out completely. "going with ali :]" was instead in his neat scrawl next to it. By stressing out, it had an arrow pointed to "getting firewhiskey for ali", which had been edited to "stalk through hogsmeade and drink firewhiskey WITH ali".

Oh yes, he did enjoy his time with Issy. He smiled brightly, handing the parchment back to her before she could attempt to grab it and ruin his beautiful edits. "You should put me in your plans more. I obviously solve everything."

[Isabella Brown]

Isabella laughed and shook her head in dismay. "And how do you know that walrus' don't pride themselves on how big their flippers are? As well as a male walrus' tusks on how long they are? Perhaps to them bigger is better. The long flippers could be used to swim faster and harder, and the tusks to show off to the females and get a mate when the times come." She countered on Alister, smiling and waiting to see if he would try and come up with more absurd explanations about walrus'.

Issy smiled at Alister's face. Out of the corner of her eye, she nearly laughed. Her lips curled up as she stopped and looked over at him. Sighing, being dramatic, she let her head fall down. "It's simply not as easy as some people make it seem, getting good grades that is. Why can't it be easy? Oh why oh why!" She nearly exclaimed loudly, causing the librarian to look over at them. Madam Pince put a finger to her lips and shushed them.

"If I could I would but... well they both seem so busy with something. " Isabella really did sigh this time. A long heartfelt sigh. "Other than you, I have a few friends in Hogwarts. I can be shy, you know. They are both pretty popular, and I'm not sure if I could just walk up to them and start talking."

Bella laughed as Alister exclaimed that she was stuck with him. "Oh Merlin help me if that's the case." She said softly, saying it loud enough for him to just barely hear to tease him.

"It is for you at least." Issy added for him. Smiling, she thought of the things she was fun. "So it's above Quidditch?" She remembered the time they had met. They both liked Quidditch, though he was on the Hufflepuff team and she was on no team. "Above even watching others make fun of themselves?"

Isabella watched as he began to mark through her notes. "I was thinking about going alone." Issy said, thinking through the party. "Perhaps you'll find me, perhaps you won't. I might make a deal with Lily and dye my hair the same color as Lily's to help her out with James. Her hair color and eyes are a rarity." Issy sighed, shaking her head and bringing herself up she added. "besides, it would make it harder for anyone to know it's me so it would give me some courage to go and talk to someone. It will be easy to know which one is you though." She teased. "You will be the one who stands taller than anyone else."

"You don't solve all my problems, though. I need my mask still, and then the stress of it all is still there. I suppose when we sneak your firewhiskey out I could get my mask though." Isabella said, solving her problems aloud talking to herself by the end of the statement. Of course, he didn't know that, did he? No, he just might think that she was talking through her problems, but Ali was smarter than he appeared.

[Alistar Ichabod]

Her comeback about the Walrus made him smile, and remember why he was sitting in the library on a perfect day like it was outside.

He smirked at her monologue, and how she seemed genuinely disappointed by Remus and Lily being out of her range - not that they were above her, though that's how it sounded. Just being in Ravenclaw put a small barrier between them. Ravenclaws ran with Slytherins and Hufflepuffs ran with Gryffindors, and rarely did the houses side together.

If they did, there would be a greater split rivalry. The underdogs of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had a lot more to offer than the famous Slytherins and Gryffindor. Not that House rivalry was important at all. There were greater things out there, even though Hogwarts defined the rest of your life, in a way.

Ali had met people on their death beds that told stories about Hogwarts days.

He frowned lightly when she said that she was going to go alone. Well, that put a damper on things. He had thought maybe they could go together - even though he didn't really like her that way... He tended to like the more masculine sex a whole lot more.

An unfortunate turn of events. He listened to her think things through, and shook his head, tilting his seat back again. "Fine, if you don't want to go with me I understand," he was teasing, of course. "Other fish in the sea and everything." He smirked, lightly before he stood up, swiping her bag and walking off.

"Well, if we're going to get sufficiently enough drunk then we'd better go right now... That is if you want to sober up before tomorrow mornning." He grinned, stepping out of the library door and letting it slam shut behind him, out of the domain of Madame Pince and therefore safe. Maybe not from Bella's wrath though. There was no telling how much he could get away with on a good day.

[Isabella Brown]

Isabella frowned at what he first said, it wasn't that she didn't want to go with him to the ball. It was that she did that she had finally decided to go alone. Things were better that way. She couldn't delude herself, no matter how much she wanted to. Besides, you didn't have to take a date. Issy had just automatically wrote it down.

Moving her hand to where she had placed her bag, she frowned even more at the loss of her item Looking over to where Alister had been, she watched as he disappeared with her bag. . What was it he had said before her left? Something about getting a move on if she wanted to be sober in the morning. Sighing, she gathered up her scrolls of parchment, quill, and two bottles of ink and began to walk rapidly after Ali.

Opening the door with her shoulder, Issy pushed her way out of the room. She glared at Alister a good deal before walking up to him, her utensils in hand, and then carefully grabbed her bag. In the process of grabbing her bag, she dropped her scrolls that then went and opened themselves onto the floor of the corridor. Gritting her teeth, she opened her bag and placed her quill and bottles in the bag and then went after her fallen scrolls.

[Alistar Ichabod]

He didn't want to upset her, he really didn't want to, but now he was already out the door and as she pushed out of the library after him, her glare making him smirk before he bit his lip. He grinned, allowing her to take her back from him, his own bag slung across his shoulder.

He let out a small oops as her things fell on the ground, and he dropped his own things, helping her go after her things. He ended up halfway down the hall, after a stray peice of parchment which had become unraveled.

He bent down, picking it up, before he frowned, biting his lip, accidentally scanning the page as he raveled it back up. Raven?

He'd heard about the Raven. It was written in her hand. He walked back over, holding the parchment out to her for a moment, his mood having fallen. "The Raven, really, Bella?" He asked, his voice calm, not betraying any emotion as he looked away, picking up his bag.

[Isabella Brown]

Isabella let Alister help her pick up her stuff, since it was his fault there was no reason to get upset. She was very content kneeling there organizing her bag once more. Her eyes scanned it's contents, just to take count of what she had. School papers in the light parchment, check. Writing utensils, all accounted for. Letters, all still bound together and not one missing. Her writings as The Raven....not there. Her eyes immediately went up to where Alister was walking back with a frown on his face.

Isabella bit the inside of her lip and tried to control her breathing, her hearing dim to anything other than the pounding of her heart. "Does it look like I could be the Raven, Ali? The Raven has a perfect body, and I have..." Issy looked down to wear her chest was being constricted by scraps of cloths. "Well, you get the idea." She said, pretending to be embarrassed about her lack of a chest. "I do know who she is though. She didn't want people to be able to find out who she was by her writing, so I took on the task. No one would think I was the Raven, now could they? I also take the letters she gets and bring them to her. She wouldn't want to be caught doing that either."

Issy looked up at Alister now, holding her hand out for the scroll that was a darker shade than her other ones. Her heart was pounding faster now that she had told him a lie. She didn't want to but...well she didn't want him thinking bad of her. Perhaps that was another reason she didn't socialize often, because of that second identity and the risk it would be found out by one of them and they would tell everyone.

[Sirius Black]

What she said was logical. Of course it was logical, it was Isabella. If she were going to lie to him she wouldn't do its sloppily. He had seen it though, the brief flash of something similar to shock and fear before she answered.

He handed the letter off to her quickly, wanting it out of his hands. He felt like if it was in there for one second longer he would tear it apart. It was an odd rush of feeling, one which Ali wasn't accustomed to. It took him a lot to get riled up, in almost everything, and it hadn't happened for a long time. He could feel his muscles tensing though. There was too much surrounding that note to make him want to worry about it, too much going between them too fast to make him want to care any longer, but he had to.

He waited as she finished, staring at him, while he stared at the floor somewhere between there feet. Any moment, he felt he would shrink. He felt like a little kid, not this giant, towering over her like a parent. He bit down on his bottom lip, giving her a once over before he turned. "If you're going to lie to me, lie well."

He started to walk off. Really. He knew she didn't talk to people. He was one of the only people very close to her, and he knew it. Just like she was to him. But he couldn't help but take it as a deep blow that she had another identity, she was another person than who he knew.

Not that he wasn't lying to her himself. Being homosexual wasn't exactly acceptable.

[Isabella Brown]

Isabella sighed as he turned around. Bowing her head, she put her scroll in her bag. She stayed like that for a moment, just kneeling on the stony ground wallowing in her self pity and guilt. She had planned on telling, just not anytime soon. She really had, but for him to find out this way. Merlin, he must think she's some sort of sl*t. Issy looked up at his retreating figure and stood.

She walked swiftly towards him, doing her best to not only match his pace was beat it. "Ali, you have to understand why I didn't tell you. Can we perhaps talk about it?" She looked up at his towering figure and gave him a sad smile. "In all honesty, we've only known each other..what? a month's time? This is big, and I still haven't told some of my friends that I've known for years. I didn't know if I could trust you with this yet."

Isabella moved her gaze from his face to the corridor before them. She wasn't sure what to expect at this point. Perhaps an outburst of curses at her? Maybe he would call her the foulest of names. Surely, there would be a shout or hiss. Her cheeks were red with embarrassment, she didn't want for him to know about the Raven. Not eve now, when he knew. He was mad at her, might even be disgusted with her presence. "I'm sorry." She whispered to him, not daring to look at him and see what expression might be on his face.