tick tock, tick tock do you hear it?

"Tick tock, tick tock, the clock goes tick tock, tick tock. Won't you stop and listen to it's beautiful sounds?"

Staring off into the horizon, watching as the sky and the trees merged off in the distance as the sun set, Danielle sat on the edge of the windowsill of the Clock tower, singing a song she was taught when she was younger. Staring off into the distance was one of the few things that gave her real pleasure. Pranking was something she did when she was bored, but she didn't enjoy it as much as what she was doing now; just sitting there watching the sun set. She felt something she hadn't felt in a long time... peace. Being a Mulciber wasn't easy, not with her parents always telling her what to do, and with her brother constantly breathing down her neck. But here she wasn't ever bothered, it was like she didn't exist here, and that was how she liked it.

The clock began to chime, and Danny jumped a little at the sudden sounds she heard. Realizing it was only the clock, she calmed down and listened to the chimes. They made her feel at peace even more, often times the clock chimes were the only friends she had when she was fed up with the constant nagging of her family. She would lock herself up in her room and just listen to the chimes... It provided her with some kind of warmth that nothing else ever could, that she would never let anyone provide for her. Not just because she didn't want to... but because she was afraid... She was afraid of being hurt by the one she loved, weird thoughts for a fifteen year old, isn't it? But she doesn't want to take any chances...

"Tick tock... tick tock why do you always lie? Tick tock... tick tock don't you hear my cries?"

Andrew hadn't really been looking forward to doing anything that day. He really just wanted to go along with his last school year and hope to god he would graduate with all the late work he had. He rarely turned in his homework, yet he wanted to make sure he would graduate, so he could at least be an Auror or something. Maybe. Andrew hadn't really cared, regardless if he got horrible grades, he'd probably just go join the Muggle army or something. Be around guns and everything, something he had loved. But regardless, he'd at least try to get his act together. And quickly too.

Yet as he was continuing down the corridor, he noticed that one of the doors that led up to the clock tower was unlocked. How curious. He opened the door and quickly closed it, to avoid further suspicion. He continued up the tower and eventually climbed up to the very top. When he made it to the top of the ladder, he noticed that a girl, 15 or 16 was sitting there, by herself singing. He flexed an eyebrow and said in his usual voice "May I ask what a lovely girl is doing up here at this time?"

"Tick tock, tick tock, what will become of my life...?"

Danny continued to sing, staring out into the horizon with a blank expression. She wasn't focusing on her singing or what was outside anymore. No, she was thinking about what would happen when her father found suitors for her. She was sure he was already looking for them, it was to be excpected, after all Danny did belong to a pureblood family. She was fifteen and next year she would have to start thinking about who she was going to choose to marry. It wasn't fair... what if she didn't like any of them, what if she fell in love with someone that wasn't a pureblood, and she wouldn't be allowed to be with him? She stopped dinging for a moment, only to sigh, before she continued with her childhood song.

"Time is running out and I'll have to choose..."

Suddenly the true meaning of this lyric became clear to her. She swung her dangling leg back and forth, as she stopped singing and thought about the lyric for a while. This song was taught to her because it would be what she used to figure out who she would marry. She had always thought of it as a simple song that was taught to her for fun. But now even that was taken away from her. A voice came from behind her and her eyes widened at the sudden question. She turned her head to face the direction where the voice was coming from, and she lost her balance from the windowsill, and she fell over. A scream escaped her lips as she dangled there holding onto the stone edge, fearing to look down.

"Crap," he muttered to himself, knowing that it probably wouldn't have been the best idea to surprise her like that. Didn't anyone have a backbone in this school? Andrew quickly climbed the rest of the way and stood below the dangling girl. He tried to think of a plan that could get her down, yet he had no idea as to what spells he could use in this situation. He hadn't even used a lot of spells lately, except for Lumos. He decided that right now he needed to do something. "Uhh, hang on a second!" he said then muttered "if you can."

He looked around for something that she could at least stand on if he used a levitation charm. A table or something of the sort. Then Andrew thought of his broomstick...no, no, that was in his locker. Christ! Well, he'd have to try anyway. "Accio Firebolt!" he casted, only holding out his hand which turned into a silver gauntlet. A couple seconds passed and nothing happened. "Aw come on," he said again, waving his hand like a lunatic. Nothing still. "Well Christ, I guess I need to-" then out of the blue came his firebolt, which hit him in the back. "Ow!" he exclaimed, a sharp pain arising in his back "I hate magic." He grabbed his broom and touched off.

He flew up and flew directly above the mysterious girl. "I know you don't really have a choice," he said, extending his hand "but please grab my hand."

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to sit on the windowsill, now look where she was. Dangling from that same windowsill, and hanging onto the stone edge for dear life. It was a long drop down from where she was and she really hoped her hands wouldn't give up on her, and cause her to plummet to the ground, and to possibly her death. She heard the boy tell her to hang on, and she automatically rolled her eyes, what choice did she have? She wasn't just going to let go and fall, what a thing to say to someone. But in her fear all she said, in a shaky voice, was, "Okay." instead of telling him off or something. She didn't want to risk him leaving her there for being nasty or something.

She heard him begin to try and call his broom and she looked off into the distance, watching to see if something happened. When nothing did, she could swear she began to cry, but no sounds came out of her, and her expression became blank, no emotion what so ever. This usually happened when she was scared or something bad was happening, her fear just took over and she just didn't show anymore emotion. It came in handy with life or death situations but it wasn't the best thing to have in some other cases. She finally saw his broom and watched as it hit him in the back, but still no emotion came to her face.

He came up above her and told her to grad his hand and she hesitated for a moment. Should she trust hijm, it was his fault that she was in this situation... But soon without further debate in her mind she grabbed his hand, and held onto it.

Andrew grabbed onto her hand and made sure that he had a good grip so she wouldn't fall. He moved his broom up a bit, slowly as to not startle her again, and flew back into the clock tower. He flew steadily and set her upon the ground without dropping her. He hovered for a second and then touched ground, getting off his broom and holding it within his left hand. "Well," he said "that could've ended a lot worse!" Yet something kept nagging Andrew in the back of the head. How did his broom get out? Then he remembered that Louis had gotten brooms from the locker room...he must've left his open or something. Well, the mistake saved someones life.

"Are you alright?" he asked, showing some concern towards the stranger. Hopefully she wasn't too shoken up by the events.

As she touched the ground, Danny couldn't help but letout a small high pitched squeak of relief. She was too shaken up by the experience that she couldn't find any words that fit into her mouth properly, and she just stared at the boy who helped her, and who had started the problem. 'It wouldn't have happened at all if you hadn't shown up..." she said hoarsely. She sighed and looked at the floor underneath her and she ran her hand slowly on the smooth stone floor. She sniffed softly as she held back the tears that had threatened to fall when she dangling on the windowsill. Now that she was safe she wanted tolet them go, but not while this boy was here. She looked up at him with her glossy, wet eyes and forced a smile.

"I- I'm fine." she said softly, before looking down again and continuing to run her hand on the floor, seeming to be in a dazed state.

Andrew placed his hand on his head, wiping some small sweat from his hand. He continued to grip his Firebolt with a firmness, seeing as how he didn't want to lose it again. He wasn't even on the Quidditch team anymore, so he would have to go apply sometime so he could fly it more. And not save the lives of random strangers. Andrew had a straight face on, but suddenly he began to chuckle in a weird and awkward manner. He smiled brightly and said "I guess you could say that was a sticky situation." He figured that was just the adrenaline going through his body, so he sounded like an idiot.

He sat down, letting his Firebolt hit the ground with a small clack. He toke a deep breath and tried to calm himself, to at least look like he was a 17 year old. He was recently called immature, which didn't bother him in the slightest, yet he would have to at least seem like he was smart to new people. "I'm Andrew," he said, looking at the girl with some concern. She seemed to be in a daze or at least some kind of shock. Andrew had been in plenty of these situations, so it didn't surprise him really.

"And you are?" he asked, shifting the way he sat so he was a little more comfortable. At least he knew that the people who built this place didn't expect anyone to be up here. The floors seemed to be a very old type of wood, which Andrew feared might've broken through if there were just a few more people sitting around them. Note to self: he thought in his mind, another smile brewing on his face No parties up in clock tower

Danny looked up at the boy and frowned. A sticky situation? Was he trying to be funny or was he just plain stupid. That was terrifing for Danny and he was laughing about it. If it had happened to him, he probably wouldn't have been laughing about it now. Every boy was stupid and immature so she couldn't really blame him. Even though she was younger than he was, she could tell she was, girls mature faster than boys, so it was logical for her not to be laughing about something like this. As he smiled about the situation, Danny looked up at him through the hair that had fallen into her eyes, and she continued to frown at the boy.

He introduced himself as Andrew and she shifted her position, her dazed state now gone. Her eyes returned to their normal, narrowed stare, that she often wore to tell people not to get near her. Surely this boy, had never seen this look and would be confused by how she stared at him. So she just gave a small scoff and returned her face to it's real normal expression. She sighed and looked up at the boy her frown now gone.

"Danielle..." she said in a soft voice. She ran her left hand over the floor under her again, and oved her hand subconsciously toward him. She had withdrawn back into her mind again, and she didn't know what she was doing. She blinked a couple of times, before beginning to move her hand slowly away.