Relaxing in the Common Room;; Open

Sterling walked into the Common Room not completely sure of what he was supposed to do. His newly stony black eyes surveyed the room. "Hello Davina," he said in a deep, confident voice. His shaky voice had become deep and confident. It no longer sounded shy, but rather sinister. He had turned fifteen, and changed more than he ever had before in a birthday.

He sat down next to her, wondering if she had noticed the change that had occurred within him since they had last met, so long ago.

Sterling glared at the girl, as he always glared at people he didn't know. He smiled a plastic smile back at her. It looked more like a grimace. "Hello Catalina," Sterling said in his same, deep, resonant voice, surveying her with his cold, stony black eyes.

"How are you?" he asked politely.

[[OOC: He can still make friends, it's just REALLY hard for him now ]]

Her smile reminded Sterling painfully of Chase's smile... the smile she used to flash at him when she had used to toy with him, seeing if she could get him to come out of his shell, having no emotion for him whatsoever. But her smile softened him a little.

"Sterling," he said. She bored into him with her sapphire blue eyes. He looked directly at somebody for the first time since he had left St. Mungo's. Why was he letting his guard down again? If he did make friends with this Ravenclaw, she would only push him away. He thought of Davina. She would push him away someday too, just like everybody did. Sterling didn't know why these next words spilled out of his mouth as he had always kept his emotion to himself, especially since he had been betrayed by Chase, but he immediately felt himself saying,

"I'm actually very tortured right now." he told her inexplicably. "I've never been in a deeper depression in my life." he said. He didn't know why he was sharing such a thing with such a stranger.

He glanced over at Cecilia. He was embarrassed that she had heard him pouring out his soul, but after all, she was just as much of a stranger. "Hello Cecilia," he said, keeping his voice absolutely emotionless. She seemed shy and innocent. They would have gotten along great last week...

"Ceci, it's okay." Sterling said in his deep, steady voice. He gave another plastic smile, but with no real emotion. "I'm a fourth year too, don't worry about it." He said, knowing full well what situation she was in. He remembered the first time he sat down with Davina, the first person that really understood him at Hogwarts. He smiled at the thought, his eyes lightening to their old gentle gray. These people wouldn't hurt him Like Chase! he screamed at himself. If only he could do a memory charm on himself... he could never ask Chase to do it for him, and he didn't know anybody else well enough to ask. If only he could go back to before he met her...

He didn't notice as he lost himself in thought, distancing himself a bit from the conversation.

Sterling felt a tear trickle down his face when Catalina touched his hand. It reminded him painfully of Chase. She's toying with me too, he told himself. But another part of him didn't want to believe it. Didn't believe it. Maybe she was sincerely interested in his emotions... maybe she didn't really hate him like everybody else.

His voice shook as he said "What if you loved somebody and they loved you back, and left you just as you were giving into the darkness? Because you were too weak to protect them?" he asked. He hated being emotional. He wasn't supposed to be emotional now that he was 15. Now that he was changed. He wanted to slap himself. But just the way this stranger was looking at him almost forced him to involuntarily say everything he had been thinking. He bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying more.