NIGHT UNTIL MORN ,

Back when the last Hogwarts tournament had taken place, it was a shock to find out that she had actually been chosen. Actually, all four of the people that had been chosen were a group of friends, even the Slytherin considering the fact that it was Betsy. The Hufflepuff had been Piper and the Gryffindor, Andrian. All the challenges had been interesting, and even before she had wondered how it would turn out, four people knowing each other pretty well going against one another. It was harder for you personally when others knew your strengths and weaknesses, just in case they were able to use it against you. Thankfully, it hadn’t happened for her from another champion, but it had happened throughout a challenge. That had been the second challenge where the tied up one of the only people she cared about near dangerous creatures in the forest, deep, deep into the forest where she had to go and save him. Not pleased by the memory, she had been injured slightly during that challenge but she had won it; the ironic thing about that was that even with the win, she didn’t like to remember what had occurred during that day and event. It worried her because she wasn’t with them, therefore thoughts about them being injured could enter her paranoid mind, even if they were perfectly safe sleeping.

When Ginevra had first put her name in the cup, she knew it was slim to none that she would have her own name pulled out. She had been young, and just interested by the mere event and mystery of what you would have to complete task wise. Darren had said it was because she was drawn to all things that would kill her in the end, but Ginevra disagreed, even if it was generally the truth. Once her name had popped up and the headmaster yelled out, “Ginevra Malenki” she blinked quite hard and had walked up to the front, listening to all of the cheers of her fellow ecstatic Ravenclaw’s, not missing the few disappointed faces. She hadn’t been the only Ravenclaw to put her name in the cup, after all. What she found amusing right now was the fact that both times the tournament came around, girls were chosen, not guys. At least for the Ravenclaw house, that is. Moving her arms down towards the bottom of her shirt, she pulled it slightly down so that it didn’t crumple up by her stomach. She hated when shirts made her look fat, even though she was aware that she was anything but.

”You’re smart not to just have a high head and be overly confident. That’s how you really get the nerves. If you build them up before, I find that they’re easier to control when it comes to the actual time.” she spoke as a reply, giving her a light smile. ”Though I could be wrong.” there was a chance for anyone to be wrong, as she was only speaking how she found things. Amelia could have things emotionally work in a completely different way than she herself found hers did. She was talking about what she thought Amelia meant, as she wasn’t a mind-reader. There was no way she could tell exactly in what way the blonde was terrified. She was guessing, and there wasn’t any better she had in her. She was, after all, only human.. Well, a half-human. Shrugging, she wasn’t the type to get mad because someone didn’t recognize her from what she did. The tournament was supposed to do that, give you eternal glory and all, but she hadn’t done it for that and just to take another guess, she didn’t think Amelia had entered her name in there for that reason neither.

”Helpful hints?” she repeated, thinking to herself now. She pictured all the tasks, though she knew that they wouldn’t be near the same as they were back then. Taking only a short while, the expression on her face as she stared past Amelia at the forest, she sucked in a breath and then let it back out. ”Don’t fall under the pressure of the hints. They’re difficult, but they just have to be read through the lines.” pausing, she did have one more thing to say hint wise. ”Don’t trust any cute looking creatures- ever.” having her smile go crooked, she was serious but it was just an amusing thing to say. That wasn’t advice she had ever thoughts he would tell another, especially since cute creatures weren’t found in daily, unless you took Care of Magical Creatures and found the blasted-ended screwballs (Ginevra’s nickname for the from back in her second year when she had burned her hand) cute, like the teacher seemed too.

((First of all, I really apologize for this taking so long. I kept meaning to get to this but these past two weeks have been crazy. I’m really sorry.))

Amelia watched as Ginevra tugged down the bottom of her shirt, either in a nervous or self conscious gesture. It was difficult to tell exactly, given the poor lighting, but the motion was not lost on Amelia. Amelia had no reason to believe that Ginevra would be feeling either of those emotions at the moment, nor that the girl would ever have any reason to feel the latter. The girl was gorgeous, statuesque. She was the type of girl that when you walked into a room, your eyes wandered to her, without really knowing why. She had the sort of effortless cool that Amelia could never hope to possess, mostly because she was so naturally awkward.

The redhead nodded as Ginevra spoke, a bit proud that her housemate would consider her smart. Among the Ravenclaw students there was always a slight twinge of competitive nature between them, not to mention a constant determination of whether or not people really deserved to be in the “intelligent” house. Her intelligence and magical ability were a point of pride for Amelia. She may not have a way with words, but she was certainly good with a wand.

Amelia returned Ginevra’s smile, wondering for a moment why Ginevra seemed to flash between high and low so quickly. At some points she seemed effortless, like there was a light that shone from within her. But every once in a while, the light dimmed or turned off completely, only for a moment, almost unnoticeable, but not to Amelia. She didn’t mention her observation, though; Amelia knew what it was like to be interrogated and she had no intention of subjecting someone to that which she so disliked. Instead, Amelia filed the bit of information away with everything else she noticed, out of her consciousness but not out of her mind.

Amelia laughed a bit at Ginevra’s repeat of her question. It sounded foolish on her lips, though Amelia was not surprised. Amelia often did not realize how inadequate some of her words were until she heard them repeated back to her. Amelia shrugged and smiled lightly through her blush, waiting for Ginevra’s answer and hoping it would give her some sort of insight. She hadn’t really found anyone to talk with about the tournament, seeing as she hadn’t really any friends and she still hadn’t told her parents. She and Ginevra weren’t close by any means, but at least they had this in common.

The first bit of advice she supplied was practical, and Amelia internalized it. Having already lived with the pressure of her parents for her entire life, Amelia felt fairly confident that she could deal with pressure, but she knew that the pressure her parents placed on her shoulders year after year was not exactly the variety she would be facing in the competition. The second comment, though, Amelia felt inclined to smile at, and for once, she did not suppress the urge.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Amelia said through a slight giggle. Amelia wasn’t usually one to giggle, but the statement had seemed so absurd that she couldn’t help herself. Of course, this was practical advice as well, but the phrasing and the crooked smile upon Ginevra’s face had lent it an air of humor that Amelia had not expected.

“I’m still waiting for the hint for the second task,” Amelia said, both to herself and the present company. She had been trying to be patient, but being a go-getter was difficult when there was nothing to go and get, “With the date so imminent, I had thought I would receive it by now. Were there any tasks for which you didn’t receive a hint?” Amelia asked Ginevra, raising her eyebrows slightly as her hand darted back to the nape of her neck, nervous again though she would rather not have admitted it.

[Sorry, i'm dreaming lately. I swore I replied to this! -.-]

Not once before had anybody pointed out the fact that she was a person who had their moments where they would just flip to another personality, as if someone completely different. She guessed people notice but no one ever had the courage to ask about it. If they had, she would tell them that she was a bi polar; shrugging it off, but her mind would frown because she wasn’t proud of it. Ginevra considered herself to be messed up, being diagnosed with such a thing, as well as being a half-breed. She had a lot of things wrong with her that others could only have nightmares about living. It sounded funny, but certain people ticked her off in ways that would change her moo instantly, and after that it was difficult to cool her down, no matter who you were. Her moods weren’t ones you could just get out of; they stuck for a short while as if they were permanent. Ginevra hated the feeling with her whole ability in that emotion.

The fact that she was able to bring a laugh out of Amelia made her comforted, as surprisingly enough she had never heard the girl let one out before. They were alike in that way, sort of uptight in a sense that they weren’t easy to make laugh, as they didn’t find the little things others did hilarious. Ginevra never really got how people could go around saying “that’s what she said” jokes and get everybody laughing. In her mind, it was just immature. A few were funny, just because they were totally out there but other than that, she rolled her eyes at the lame attempts to make life a game. Call her horrible, but she just wasn’t able to let loose and enjoy like others. She only wished. Even if the laugh was about a small creature looking all cute and cuddly, it was useful information that, if you pictured it in your head, was laughable without her intending it to be. Ginevra knew what one looked like now that she had been in the tournament (she hadn’t trusted it, but the Gryffindor champion had- what a sight that had been, even if she had to stop and help him in order to not feel guilty later on) but beforehand she had always pictured it as some muggle furby-like creature, fluffy, small and round.

Ginevra shook her head in order to indicate that she had always received a hint in any of the three tasks. ”We always got them right after the task- or at least a few hours afterwards.” she spoke, her eyebrows pulling together in slight confusion. Why wouldn’t they have received their hint yet? It seemed bizarre to Amelia, but in order to not freak her out, within a few milliseconds her eyebrows were back to normal, her shoulders shrugging to give off the image that it was nothing to worry about, even if they didn’t end up getting one. ”If you’re worried, just practice spells. Even dueling helps for the competitive bi**ches who like to throw spells at you so they can win.” Ginevra nearly grumbled out, as she could only remember too well how people did that to her, knowing she was a threat. It hadn’t done anything except slow her done, but still- if she hadn’t been good with her fast thinking spell-wise, she would have been passed easily.

Amelia could see that her laughter had taken Ginevra aback, which wasn’t surprising seeing as she wasn’t exactly the cheerful type. It wasn’t that she was never happy, she was just too serious to let on most of the time. She had things that made her happy, like music and running and getting an O on an exam, but laughter was a visible representation of an emotion, and Amelia was not all too keen on wearing her heart on her sleeve. She was much more reserved, which pleased her mother – probably one of the only things that pleased Antoinette about Amelia’s skills in social situations – and suited Amelia just fine. Of course, it had – with the help of several other personality traits – earned Amelia the title of “Ice Queen”, but then again, that suited Amelia quite well too, at least the part of herself she chose to display.

As everyone did, Amelia had a part of herself that she didn’t show to the world at large. Even people who claimed to be extroverts, outgoing, and fully honest weren’t, especially with themselves. Everyone had secrets, bits of themselves that they weren’t proud of or willing to share. Amelia was just much more upfront about this fact. While the rest of the world liked to go around making friends with anything that moved, pouring their heart out to their boyfriend of four days, Amelia wasn’t so willing or eager. To the world, this often came across as loneliness or unhappiness, but Amelia was neither of those things. She was her own favorite company.

Ginevra’s answer to her question made Amelia cringe a bit internally, though she tried not to look to stricken. For as good as she was at disguising her emotions, nerves and embarrassment often got the better of her. She would have to work on hiding these better before the next few tasks, because she would hardly be intimidating competition of she was shaking like a leaf.

Amelia could read Ginevra’s paranoid turnaround quite clearly, recognizing it as something she often had to do. Amelia could be and often was brutally honest with people concerning her opinions of them, to which her mother usually responded with a death glare if she was within earshot. This ultimately resulted in Amelia having to do the “paranoid turnaround” as she had named it, saying something to smooth over the inflammatory remark she had just made and placate her mother and whoever happened to be on the receiving end of Amelia’s honesty.

Still, Amelia gave a tiny smile of appreciation for Ginevra’s attempts to soothe her nerves. Ginevra was an honest person, perhaps not forthcoming with information about herself, but then again, neither was Amelia. Ginevra also seemed to have no filter for her words, including profanity which would have made Antoinette visibly cringe. Amelia liked it about Ginevra. It was easy to see what she was thinking, and Amelia had enough nonsense to deal with without having to sort through muddled words meant to be socially acceptable.

“That has been my main method of preparation thus far, that and digesting what is left of the library that I haven’t yet tackled,” Amelia responded, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips at Ginevra’s upfront comment, “But I will be sure to watch out for the uh…” Amelia paused, tempted by the thought of repeating the word Ginevra had used, but ultimately choosing another due to her mother’s ingrained teachings, “…other champions.”

A cool breeze was now whipping across the lake, giving the waves greater crests and making Amelia feel the chill. The warmth of her run had dissipated long ago, and now the sweat on her skin was cold enough to draw heat away from her lithe form. With a slight shiver, Amelia shrugged toward the castle.

“I think I’m going to head back,” she said, looking back to Ginevra, “Would you like to accompany me, or should I leave you here to freeze?” she asked, an attempt at playfulness, but Amelia wasn’t exactly the joking type. Sarcasm was much more her style.