slow down and quiet down

The orange red color of the fire lit the dimly lit Ravenclaw common room. It felt a bit lonely there, but the fourth year preferred the quiet loneliness to the loud ruckus that was caused by others outside of the common room. Most Ravenclaws were quiet and studious though, of course, there were always a few exceptions. They may be smart but they were too loud, which was why he never hung out with them, or even crossed words with them most of the time.

Right now the common room was the way he preferred it. Way better than going outside to the lake or someplace else that had lots of people in them that only caused noise. Looking around the common room for a moment, the boy took out his drumsticks. It had been a while since he'd played drums and he was beginning to miss playing them to his hearts content. It was pretty much the only thing he did that caused his father to be proud of him. Everything else made him seem weak and fragile which, put in his words, was what a girl should seem like. He didn't get what was so bad about not wanting to play quidditch or only focusing on school work, and he certainly didn't understand why it was girls that had to he weak and fragile, he knew plenty of girls that weren't like that, and to be honest he liked that they weren't weak or fragile. It made them able to fight for themselves, like most of them want to be.

Thinking there was no one around to witness what he was about to do, the boy began to gently tap the drumsticks on the table in front of him. At first he was tapping randomly, thinking of a good song that he knew the beat of that he could play. He began to hum a song softly as he thought about the beat of the song, and soon his foot began to tap on the floor in the beat of the drum pedal as he began to drum the rythm of the song. His humming grew a bit louder as he drummed and soon Lysander closed his eyes as he visualized the drums he had back home.

Janelle lay on her stomach on her bead reading a book as an older student would a Magazine about boys and fashion with her legs swinging back and forth as the sound of drum sticks hitting wood floated to her ears. Slowly she looked up and closed her book. Getting up the twelve year old brunette dug though her trunk to find her own drum sticks standing she shoved them in her book and fallowed the sound toward the Ravenclaw common room. As soon as she reached the door way she could tell who was playing. The boy was about a year or two older than her and from behind he didn’t look too bad. She wasn’t sure but she thought his name was Lysander, but no matter his name he was a seriously awesome drummer. Pushing her glasses up on her nose she leaned against the door way and listened as he played.

Janelle had pulled all but her bangs back into a rather messy off centered pony tail. And she wore a graphic tee with a picture of a baby chick wearing a spiked dog collar. Under the chick it read ‘chicks rock!’ Along with the bright red shirt she wore dark wash skinny jeans and flat heeled black knee high boots. Her glasses took up half her face making her eyes look too big for her head, but she needed them to see.

Just as she was getting ready to say something one of Janelle’s brothers walked into the common room. ‘Oh god!’ she though as he looked right at her and turned toward her instead of going up to his dorm like she predicted he would have if he hadn’t of seen his baby sister, his only Sister. Janelle had a feeling that if the kid playing noticed her brother he would stop playing and then she would look like a total freak for watching him.

The air of the common was really quiet, so quiet actually that he could actually hear the sound of the fire crackling. His face looked orange from the light the fore was producing and he paused for a moment as he heard footsteps. The sound stopped a bit after and he shrugged resuming where he had left off. For a moment he sounded off beat but he quickly got back on track. As he drummed he smiled, remembering the countless times he spent with his mother as she listened to him drum and gave him a few tips even though she didn't know how to play the instrument. She'd always given him good advice in how to play and he always found himself wondering why she'd never learned to play the instrument herself, even now when she could still learn, she never wanted too.

Soon there was a sound of a door opening and he lifted his head to see an older boy walk in. He immediately stopped drumming and hid his drumsticks quickly behind his back. Instead of going to the boy's dormitories, like most do when they came into the common room, the boy began to walk in the opposite direction almost like he was walking toward someone. It couldn't be toward him, cause he didn't know the kid, plus older students didn't exactly like him. Apparently he was too quiet and too studious for them, not that he cared. They always preferred his brother, because he was cooler more outgoing one of the two of them. If only they knew that he still slept with a stupid teddy bear. Lorcan always made himself seem big and mighty but the truth was that he was a scared little boy, he was even scared of the dark.

The other boy walked right past him, and for a moment Lysander debated in whether or not he should turn around to see what he was headed for. Finally he decided to see who the other boy saw and his eyes widened slightly at the sight of a girl, a year or two younger than him, who was standing in the door way. Had she been there while he was playing? She must have been the one who created the footsteps he heard a bit earlier. Lysander stared at her for a moment, not know what to say or if he should say anything at all. He didn't usually like it when others heard him playing without him knowing, it brought unknown attention that he really didn't like at all.

Smirking Janelle’s brother stopped in front of her and spoke “So Janey, you being a spy again?” he asked putting her in a head lock and giving her a messing her hair just like he would one of their two brothers. He knocked her glasses off in the process and started to walk away with his arm still around her neck.

“Let go of me!” she squealed as he drug her around by the head. Janelle tried to trip him but failed unsuccessfully which wasn’t really a bad thing because if she did he would have fallen on her. “And I wasn’t spying. I just didn’t want him to stop playing! He’s like really good unlike your ugly butt!” She struggled out of her brother’s grasp and ran to stand in between the boy and the fire, as far away from her brother she could get without leaving the room. “Now look! You scared him! Now he won’t play again! Why do you have to ruin everything? Just leave before you scare him even more!”

“Why don’t you make me Elle?” He taunted her, “Oh that’s right you can’t because you’re a girl!” he laughed as his baby sisters face turned read with anger. “If you try I’ll tell dad and hill take your Music and books away again.”

“Just go!” Janelle said glaring at him. She kept glaring until he walked away laughing no doubted-ly to tell his other two siblings what he had just seen. Once he had left she rolled her eyes and went over to pick up her glasses... “Grate he broke my glasses again.” everything was blurry but Janelle managed to make her way back over to the chair that said close by the sofa that the boy sat on. “I’m sorry you had to see that he can be so stupid sometimes.” She said with a small smile as she put her glasses back on her face. One cracked lenses and a bent ear peace was all. It could have been worse. “I’m Janelle, Janelle Belby by the way. And your drumming was like awesome!”

Normally Janelle wouldn’t speak so openly to anyone about anything but the music had drawn her in like a moth to a light. There was no stopping her now.

He'd only watched the dispute between the siblings and he really didn't know what to do. If he'd been like his brother he would've immediately went between the two trying to act like a stupid hero in front of the girl. Most of the time he wouldn't get much attention from the girls as he would've hoped. Only a thanks and a smile and they'd just walk away. It always made him smile when that happened, especially the face his brother made when the girls rejected him.

But he wasn't that stupid. He learned from his brother's past failed attempts that playing the hero wasn't always the best way to go. Sometimes it would just make you seem stupid, especially if you couldn't do much to help, like him. Always being the fragile and weak one of the two, he'd never been quite so outgoing as to be able to act tough for a girl. Sure he could he fun but when it came to fights and trying to resolve them he never resorted to fighting, and somehow he did end up being the hero most of the times.

The girl was saying something about his drumming and he felt himself blush a bit before looking down. Her brother soon left after saying a few comments to his sister and then the girl grabbed her now broken glasses. The one thing that went through his mind right now was, why would an older brother treat his younger sister like that? It was something you just shouldn't do, and especially not to a girl.

Lysander gave the girl a somewhat awkward smile and took out his wand. He pointed it at the girl's face, namely her glasses and waved his wand. "Oculus Reparo." he says softly as a white puff of smoke came from his wand, fixing her glasses. He replaced his wand in his back pocket and looked down at his drumsticks. As she introduced herself, he felt the oh so familiar nervous feeling in his stomach he usually got when he stoke to girls. "I'm Lysander Scamander. Nice to meet you Janelle." he smiled again awkwardly. She commented on his drumming and he felt his face burn again. "Um, thanks. I've been playing since I was little so I would hope so." he said softly.

“Oh Thanks!” Janelle said after he fixed her glasses, “Now I can see! I don’t like wearing my contacts when I’m doing nothing but reading... They make my eyes feel like really dry and irritated if I leave them in too long and stuff. Though you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. And it’s nice to meet you too Lysander.” So she had been right about his name that was an amazing feet for her seeing as she didn’t tend to pay much attention to people just her books. “You’ve been practicing a lot then. When I was little I practically begged my parents to get me a flute and I didn’t go anywhere without it. Then I was introduced to percussion instruments a few years later. I drove my brothers insane with my singing and incisive banging on things. I doubt people find it annoying when you play. Yours sounds so beautiful even for just playing on the table.” She pulled her sticks out of her boot and started to twirl them around. “Oh and there’s no need to be shy around me. I won’t do anything to scare you like my brother did. He’s such a boob sometimes.” she pulled her feet up in the chair with her and began playing on her legs.

The boy looked down at the table, tapping his drumsticks on the table again, but this time with no rythm, like before. He thought for a moment, he was thinking of another song that he could drum. He always liked playing rock music, although a lot of people found it loud and disruptive, and satanic for some reason, he didn't believe that. He knew a lot of other people shared that his view of rock music. Rock music for him, symbolized freedom of expression more than any other genre. He felt his emotions flowed better when he played this kind of music more than any other genre.

"No problem." he said quietly as she thanked him for fixing her glasses. She began to tell him something about wearing contacts and he stared at her and blinked for a moment before figuring out what she was talking about. "I actually do have an idea of what you're talking about, so don't worry about it." he smiled at her a little less awkward this time. He looked down at the table again as he continued to tap meaninglessly on the table.

Lysander looked up at Janelle as she started talking about how she begged her parents to get her a flute and he smiled. "Flutes are good instruments, but I've always liked playing drums and guitar. Though as you can see I prefer drums more." he told the girl. "Well that's not completely true. My brother and father find it annoying sometimes." he said, shrugging a bit. "Lorcan finds it annoying because I can actually play drum unlike him, who the only thing he's good for is looking like an idiot in front of girls when he tries to act like a hero. My father says that I'm like a one trick pony, cause I only do this stuff, I never took an interest in quidditch or anything like that, like he wanted me too." Lysander explained softly.

The boy watched her take out her own drumsticks and twirled then around in her hands. He finally settled for a song and he tapped on the table three times before he started drumming again. "Don't worry about it. He didn't really scare me." the fourth year shrugged again as he continued to drum the beat of a rock song by a band from a while ago called Evanescence.

Janelle bobbed her head to the beat Lysander kept and after a minute or two added her own little thing to it. Right right left right click click right left rightshe repeated in her head over and over again as she semiconsciously counted the rhythm 1-e-a two and three four-e-and. She smiled as she played and loved the way it sounded. She looked over at Lysander her eyes sparkling with happiness and joy. She normally didn’t look happy in fact she normally seemed pissed off and annoyed. Soon she was laughing as they played. Sure she was just playing a simple pattern but it sounded so cool with what he played. She loved the way her sticks lined up with is at times. She loved everything about what they played. Blushing a little Janelle stopped playing and looked away from Lysander as she shoved her sticks back in her boot. She felt completely retarted for letting him see the way she reacted to the rhythm she played.

this is what Janelle is playing if you have know idea what my bandyness is talking about