familiar faces in familiar places. (open!)

[ELLE ALEXANDRA WALKER]

There was something about the fall air that refreshed Elle. She loved this season most of all. Maybe it was the changing colors of the leaves, that little reminder that nothing stays the same for very long, and a lot of the time the change can be even prettier than what you thought you loved before. Maybe it was all of the animals, running about, busy preparing for the colder months ahead by burrowing shelters or stocking up on food, or just getting the hell out of here and finding some place warm to stay until things looked a little warmer. As a fan of winter, Elle couldn’t sympathize with them. She wanted to run away to colder places during the summer months. But it was probably just that it was the beginning of the school year, and after a long summer back home things at Hogwarts still managed to seem new and exciting. The grounds surrounding the castle seemed extra inviting, and all of her old favorite places managed to appear new again under the gaze of someone who was a year older now and seeing them with only slightly different eyes.

She had just come inside and was going to one of her favorite places in the castle – the Hufflepuff Common Room. She loved it because, like the Slytherin common room, it was located in the dungeons. She had no solid reason to explain why she loved the dungeons so much. Maybe it was because she liked the fact that it was always several degrees cooler there under the rest of the castle. Maybe it was the fact that it reminded her of all of those secret lairs in books and movies. Maybe it was just because the yellow décor usually served to lift her spirits even on the darkest of days. Despite being underground, it never felt very dark or dreary in her home away from home; she never got a sense of being closed in at all. It was perfect. And the people were just spectacular. She couldn’t imagine finding a greater group of people anywhere in the castle, other than perhaps the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall. Elle was very proud of her house and loved all of its members; she loved them all like family, pretty much.

This was one of the reasons she had been so excited to become a Prefect in her fifth year. She loved the idea of sort of being a mentor to the younger students, as well as a representative of her fine house. And to be chosen for Head Girl now that she was a 7th year, well, it was an honor she could only have dreamed of. In her usual overly-ambitious fashion, Elle had challenged herself to try and learn as many names as she could of all of the students in Hogwarts. She pretty much knew most of the fifth, sixth, and seventh years, it was just the younger ones that messed her up. She was getting better at it, though.

The sun was setting outside as Elle plopped herself into one of the more comfortable sofas. At least, she assumed it was setting. Soon it would be time for her to go out and patrol the corridors, rounding up lost first years and breaking up after-hours make-out sessions between couples from different houses who could not meet in their common rooms for such antics. She didn’t look forward to being the one to ruin fun, but it was part of her job. She did get an odd sort of thrill from taking points away from particularly troublesome students, though she only did that when they gave her trouble, or if they were breaking things or hurting other people. She wasn’t one of those power-hungry types that just ran around taking points just because she could. Though she totally could, if she wanted to.

A little lost in her thoughts, Elle snapped back to reality. She looked around the Common Room to see who all was there and what they were up to. Several people had entered the common room since she had sat down, and she smiled at some and waved to others, glad to be back in school for the year and unable to imagine not returning here in a year’s time.

((ooc- okay, so, it started off alright, and was finished at 2 am, so the ending was rambling and... not good. Haha. But I needed to get her somewhere, so here it is!))

[JOSEPH JAY WALKER]

Joey was in love with the fall, especially fall at Hogwarts. Of course fall led to winter, which he found just as wonderful, but there was something about the crisp fall air that he found particularly enjoyable. That really was his thought process, by the way, jumping from one thing to another, from fall to winter. Anyway, the day had been a rather windy one and a few of the slowly changing leaves had been shaken to the ground. This didn't disappoint him, in fact, it made him really excited for jumping in leaf piles and throwing handfuls of leaves down the backs of pretty girls' shirts. Joey smirked to himself as he thought of a random girl squealing as she tried to shake the leaves out, his seventh year at Hogwarts was going to be amazing. He had gone outside for a long walk because he wanted to admire the castle, to take in all of it's surroundings in the fall. Next year he wouldn't be back, he'd be moving on to whatever it was that he planned to do, just like everyone else in his year. Unlike everyone else, Joey didn't have any idea of what he wanted to do with his life and he was starting to feel the pressure to chose something he enjoyed doing enough to make a career out of it. These uneasy thoughts caused him to head back inside, where the presence of others and the quiet conversations of his housemates in the Hufflepuff commonroom would take his mind of off things. Joey wasn't one to take anything too seriously, preferring to wait things out and see where life took him instead of seeking things out for himself.

Coming in from the outside a blast of warm air warmed up his cheeks, turning them a pleasant shade of pink. He was smiling slightly, absent-mindlessly playing with a few coins in his pockets. The dungeons felt surprisingly warm and cozy compared to the outside although it's likely that those who had been inside the whole night wouldn't agree with this. His eyes scanned the room, searching for a friendly and familiar face. Joey quickly spotted one, Elle Walker, they shared the same last name but were not related (which made Joey a very very happy fellow). Being seventh year Hufflepuffs, they had known each other since their first year and felt lucky to have her as a friend. She was far more studious than he was and had kept him in line and saved him from the brink of failing several times throughout his Hogwarts career. Elle was one of the few women who could keep his attention, she was smart, beautiful and fun and this year she had rightfully gained the title of Head Girl. Despite all of the wonderful things he thought about her, he had never tried for anything more than a friendship with her, he thought that she was far too good for him and far too determined to ever waste her time on someone who was almost positive that he'd still be living with his parents when he let Hogwarts. Anyway, Joey was excited for her when he learned of her Head Girl position and for himself as well because this new title and it's responsibilities gave Joey something to tease her about.

"Oh hey there head girl, deduct any house points yet? Assign any detentions yet? Learn anything good when patrolling at night? Catch anyone snogging ?"

He had approached Elle suddenly, sweeping down and grabbing the seat next to her. While he talked, he unzipped the light jacket he was wearing in order to make himself feel a bit more comfortable. His hair and robes were messy, his tie undone, but he still looked devilishly handsome. When he was finished with his playful prodding, Joey raised his eyebrows and flashed her a smile, all the while stretching out an arm and placing it behind her . . .on the seat, of course! Elle was just the kind of distraction he needed because, you know, they're friends and all that.


((sorry, it's a bit short . .but there you go, a post! more me for you to reply to I also realize I took a liberty with assuming they were friends, if that's not cool then I'll rewrite the post. OH and if the grammar is horrible, that's because I didn't have word to double check it in! ))

[ELLE ALEXANDRA WALKER]

Elle hadn’t even seen Joey come in. She had a terrible habit of zoning out sometimes! She didn’t know what brought it on, but there were just some moments when her vision went out of focus and she just sort of let it stay there, not really looking at anything in particular. It usually happened when she was thinking about something, which was a rather frequent occurrence these days. After all, she had a lot to think about. Classes, looking after first years, Head Girl duties, working with Prefects, graduating at the end of the year… there was never a dull moment inside of her head these days. She didn’t mind, though. Elle always found that time passed by quickly when she had things to think about or do. At least she was never bored this way!

She must’ve been really zoned this time because she was startled by the sudden voice at her side. Joey had come up beside her, asking her a series of related questions rapid-fire while taking the seat next to her and taking off his jacket now that he was inside and the air wasn’t quite so chilly. She quickly masked her surprise with a smile of her own, giving Joey a look-over and taking note of his slightly disheveled appearance. She didn’t mind it one bit.

Elle had known Joey for what was going on 7 years now. They had been in the same house, and the same year, and so had almost all of the same classes and plenty of time to bond. Any possible relation between the two of them had been dispelled their first year. Walker was just one of those really common names, the ones that thousands of people across the nation had even though most of them weren’t even vaguely related to each other. The lack of relation had been a relief to her because it made her immediate crush on the boy far less awkward than it already was for her 11-year-old self.

The two of them were rather close friends – two people almost had to be after seven years. She loved spending time with Joseph, and he had a great sense of humor and good looks to boot. What was there not to like? And yet, in all the years that the two had known each other, through every conversation and encounter, not once did he ever outright hit on her. No sly advances. Not even a hint at anything more than just friendship. Which was fine, she supposed. She loved having him as a close friend and would’ve hated to ruin the good thing they had going. But there were moments like this – when he’d put his arm behind her – that she would get a flutter in her chest. Then he’d rest his hand on the sofa and not her shoulder, and the flutter was gone. Sometimes his tone seemed flirtatious, but never anything concrete.

Elle was far too shy when it came to things like boys. It was the main reason she was still single. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested, it was that she was afraid. Though afraid of ending up alone, she was equally afraid of putting herself out there and not having her feelings reciprocated. She pushed the thoughts aside and turned to face Joey with a smile on her face.

“Oh hey there, yourself,” she greeted her friend. His smile was contagious, and she could almost feel her own energy rise just by being around him. ”No, no, no, and yes.” She added, answering his questions just as quickly as he had managed to ask them. ”You should’ve seen the poor girl’s face last night when I walked in on them. Only a fourth year, she looked like she was going to die right then and there of embarrassment. I felt terrible for her. Then she just kept saying ‘please don’t tell my parents’ over and over and over again.” Elle couldn’t help a small smile as she recalled her last bout of patrolling. She never liked having to scold people, especially when they were obviously aware of their mistakes and sorry enough at just being caught.

((ooc- I’m fine with them being friends! And her crush can just stay a crush forever, but I knew the second you made him that it’d exist. ;-) ))

[JOSEPH JAY WALKER]

Joey was glad that Elle finally noticed his presence and even happier when she smiled back at him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about this girl that made him want to be around her as much as possible. Respect was something that he tried his best to give all girls, but Elle was probably the girl he respected the most. He held Elle above everyone else, he respected her for more than just the fact that she was a girl. She was quite possibly the only girl that could make him feel a little bit shy, a little bit naive and he would probably never admit it. To Joey any sort of relationship with Elle just wasn't possible, she was far too awesome to ever have any real interest in him. Joey was certain that she deserved better, so in all of their years of friendship he kept his hands and thoughts to himself.

He wondered if she noticed that he never hit on her like he did other girls. Joey wouldn't call himself a playboy, but he was definitely flirtatious with a lot of ladies. Of course he never got himself into trouble and remained relatively modest (most of the time). Besides, he would rather be known for something other than his looks. He wanted to be seen as an interesting, fun, smart fellow because personalities are what he noticed about everyone else before he even thought about their appearance. Joey had a true gift for reading people, from a word or two or even from just reading their body languages and facial expressions, he could tell a lot about the true nature of a person. The divination professor had once told him that he was special and had a talent for divination and although the subject fascinated him, he never pursued it any further than his classwork.

He loved her response to his rapid fire questions, it was exactly how he would have responded in the same situation. Maybe it's true, great minds do think alike. Joey smirked to himself at the thought, how cocky he could be, even though he'd try desperately to deny it if anyone ever caught him. And of course she had caught someone snogging, he was tempted to make some sort of comment along the lines of "and what about you? who will punish you if someone catches US snogging?", but he refrained. How sly and cheesy that would have been, how perfectly Joey that thought was. Instead, he came up with someone else that had the potential to bring a slight flush to Elle's face.

"A fourth year huh? That's a little young, I guess they haven't figured out all of the good spots yet. I would tell you where they are, but then where would I hide out?"

He winked at her before deciding to change the subject, if they kept talking about snogging the situation might get awkward. Joey searched his mind for something suitable, something a little more interesting and personal then 'how was your summer?'. Elle deserved better than something as generic as that and Joey was determined to give it to her.

"Want to hear my word of the week? I'm completely wild for it at the moment. I swear that muggle dictionary is really one of the best inventions ever, why don't we have a wizarding dictionary? Well . .we might, but I've never seen one. Wouldn't it be so helpful?"

Ever since his fifth year, when he had discovered his beloved Websters Dictionary, Joey had a word of the week. He'd flip through the pages until one caught his eye and for the entire week he'd try his best to use as many times as he could. This didn't always go according to plan and sometimes left many people confused when he'd use the word in the wrong context. Joey wasn't bothered by it, his mind was like a sponge when it came to the English language. He loved it, written and spoken, and was determined to learn as much as he could.

((Oh that's totally fine, I was going in the direction of him having a crush on her but thinking that she's way too good for him . . .so it all works out, sort of haha))