Thrill me [open]

[gabriel]

Gabriel was brooding.
As he had been finishing up a last minute Defense against the Dark Arts assignment, his friends had already left without him for an excursion to Hogsmeade; a trip which he had been looking forward to all day. Some friends they were.

He was too antsy to stay in his room and sleep, and when he’d ventured out into the Gryffindor common room he found not one, but three couples snogging. There certainly wasn’t anything wrong with snogging, especially if you found the right girl, but three obvious and obnoxious couples making ooh-ahs and slurping noises was a bit too much to take.

He wasn’t at all hungry, so a trip to the kitchen was out, and he’d finished up all his assignments so that left him with only so many options. Of course, the option he chose just -had- to be the most dangerous of all his choices.
The Forbidden Forest was not only dodgy, but could also land him in more hot water than it’d take to fill up a giant’s bathtub (that is if they even bathed...).
Still, a little excitement was just what Gabriel was in need of, and so that’s what was on the agenda for the evening.

Still dressed in his black uniform trousers, Gabriel pulled a dark colored hoodie over his white button-down and went on about the business of sneaking out.
This was his Seventh year at Hogwarts and as such, he knew most of the ways in which to slip out of the castle confines unnoticed.
It didn’t take long before he was outside and running swiftly towards the ominous tree line.

The night air whipped across his smooth face like glass and so he pulled his hood tightly over his head. The evening had a cool bite to it, and Gabriel was glad for the extra warmth as well as the camouflage the hooded sweatshirt provided.

As he approached the forest, a menacing howl echoed from somewhere in the distance. The moon above was nearly full and cast an eerie silvery light over the trees. A movement was visible within, followed by the snap of branches underfoot.
A shiver ran down Gabriel’s spine as he gave pause, and a mischievous smile slipped across his face.

Pulling out his wand, the young wizard marched forward, ready for (almost) anything that came his way.

[Amelia Pace]

[Hey, hope you don't mind me jumping in here, but thought it would be interesting to see how he views Ame... not that he knows what she is, but still. Also, how he'd react to Team Captain =D]

Full moons, and the few days proceeding it, made Amelia twitchy. She couldn’t sit still, and she most certainly couldn’t concentrate, she was fairly certain Connery would understand if her essay was a little late. She could have gone to Hogsmeade like the rest of her year and her friends, but she wasn’t in the best of moods. Everything was grating on her. Mainly people asking her; “Are you feeling okay?” one too many times made her want to snap. Never a good idea.

Then, if people weren’t enquiring about how she was, they were asking her about recent ideas on quidditch tactics. If she heard “changed the team yet?” one more time, she might have ripped somebody’s head off.

So maybe being with people right now wasn’t the best idea.

The night sky was a gorgeous thing. She had always thought so. When she was a kid, a younger child anyway, she loved to lie out in the back garden on a rug, with her father and just watch the stars. Still or shooting, it didn’t matter, she still loved to watch and make shapes in the stars. Nothing special, no star signs or other random astronomy things, but random new shapes.

She didn’t have her uniform on; she wore her school overcoat over a grey turtle neck jumper and a pair of dark demin jeans. Her trademark crocheted beanie hat pulled over her curling hair. For once it wasn’t raining, but it sure as hell was one hell of a sauna, was cold. Hell was a nice looking option right about now, at least she’d be warm.

Amelia had decided to escape the castle, and all people, just for a while, sitting on a tree stump in the forest. One would think a girl would learn her lesson, the last time she had been anywhere near the forest she’d become a tasty treat for the resident evil. Resulting in Connery playing hero and transfusing straight from his own arm into hers. It wasn’t something she wanted to relive any time soon, but she needed to get away.

The second she heard something she’d stood up.

Amelia headed as directly as she could towards the school, trying her best not to head towards the movement, but considering the position of the noise and the castle, she didn’t have much choice, if she saw burn-face she’d run, fast.

But she didn’t see burn-face. She saw a wand, and a stockier figure, a hoodied figure. Her brow knitted, Who the hell? she cut through the trees towards them, reaching for her own wand in her pocket. Gabriel.

At least he wasn’t a vampire.

She continued walking towards the castle, he was no threat, but she still felt like ripping somebody’s head off. Making herself known, Amelia carried on her journey back to the castle, stopping to momentarily acknowledge him.

[gabriel]

[ I'm glad you joined! I think eventually, if he did find out what she is, that would make for an interesting thread. xD ]

Gabriel’s heart was pounding so fiercely, he was positive it was going to escape the confines of his chest. The adrenaline pulsing through him was the best kind of high; the boy could nearly fly with no aid from his broom (which happened to be back in his room, obviously). Whomever, or whatever was edging towards him was in for a duel, and Gabriel was very very good at dueling. Even if the creature was able to take him down, he wouldn’t go without a fight. The very thought of a battle filled the young Gryffindor with a surprising eagerness, and he was almost ashamed that the notion of violence thrilled him. Almost.

He could hear the footsteps moving closer now; but they weren’t at all hurried or thunderous as he expected. Perhaps it was a centaur. The proud creatures were often territorial of these woods, but he wouldn’t anticipate a duel with one of them unless the Halfling was truly mad. He’d heard tales of them chasing young wizards out of their woods, but also of them helping Hogwarts students, as had been the case of the young Harry Potter.
“Lumos...” Gabriel’s husky voice was low, but it still seemed to echo against the tree stumps and linger amongst the low hanging foliage. The clear white light from his wand illuminated the area before him and he tramped with deliberate unhurried steps toward the sound.

What if it was a werewolf?

The consideration suddenly came to the boy, as if whispered in his ear by the very trees that surrounded him. A slight vibration began in the hand that held his wand out before him, and his dark eyes narrowed in aggravation. “Its -not- a werewolf.” Gabriel spoke aloud to calm his nerves, though he wasn’t completely sure he believed the words even as said them. His gaze lifted up toward the heavens and he let out a ragged breath of relief when the clouds shifted off the moon to reveal it was as it had been before, not quite completely round, and by some oddity it hadn’t grown in the last few moments.

As he moved deeper in the woods a figure began to come into view, and Gabriel squinted against the darkness as it wasn’t nearly as ominous or threatening as he predicted. When the mass of pale silken hair and the distinctly feminine form drifted closer, the corner of his mouth lifted up into the whisper of a smile. Amelia.

This certainly wasn’t what he had expected.

Gabriel didn’t know her well, aside from the fact that they passed each other daily in the Common Room and she was one hell of a team leader. She was firm yet affable as the Quidditch Captain, and he’d often found himself amazed at her skill on the field. The confidence she exuded was definitely contagious. It didn’t hurt that she was easy on the easy either. Very easy.

His shoulders visibly relaxed as he lowered his wand a bit, so not to shine the bright light in her eyes. Gabriel cleared his throat and a hand came up to rub absently at the back of his neck.

“What are you doing out here, Amelia?” He asked in a husky, but easygoing voice.

[Amelia Pace]

Amelia found herself heading directly for the light conjured from the end of a wand. So much for avoiding the person, but never mind, if they were using a wand, they couldn’t be that harmful. Vampires didn’t use wands after all. They weren’t allowed to.

She heard the mumble that escaped the males lips as she approached, she couldn’t help but smirk to herself. If she wasn’t a werewolf she wouldn’t have heard him. It served to amuse, greatly. But it wasn’t like the guy knew that. And anyway, it wouldn’t be a werewolf, the moon wasn’t full. Not yet. Somebody needed to do there homework.

Amelia didn’t know that much about the boy that stood before her. One thing she did know however was he didn’t like werewolves. So distancing herself from him as much as possible was probably a good thing for her. Not that she would ever tell him what she was, she told Scotty at a push, it wasn’t likely that she was going to tell somebody who wasn’t a best friend. Especially one that might try and attach silver to her at some point.

Amelia knew Gabriel as a person on the Quidditch field. As much as avoiding him was a good idea, his talent on the Quidditch field was flawed, and she knew they shared the same passion and had similar goals. Whether they achieved them was another matter altogether. Could a werewolf even pass the medical to become a quidditch player? That was something she really needed to research.

She watched him lower his wand and nodded gratefully for the blast of light no longer in her eyes. She’d normally have smiled but her irritability stopped her from the nicety. She pulled her hat down further over her ears and flicked her hair over her shoulders. Hair that had a few weeks ago been matted with her own blood, the thought still made her cringe. She hadn’t stopped showering for a week. Even now she didn’t feel completely clean.

Amelia clenched her jaw before she answered his question, days before the full moon, she hated them. ”I could ask you the same thing,” she snapped at him, biting back on going for him more. ”Sorry. Having a really, really shitty day,” she explained, scratching her forehead, looking at him past her hand, ”Had to get away from a bit,” she cleared her throat and attempted to smile at him, ”What’s your excuse?” she enquired, trying not to pay too much attention to the fact that her skin was crawling and she really wanted to punch something.

It might not be a feminine thing to do, but she was sure it would help.

Instead, she decided on digging her hands into her pockets and clenching her fists out of sight, maybe that would serve just as well.

[gabriel]

Gabriel had never seen Ame so fidgety; of course he spent so little time with her that it was entirely possible she was always this twitchy and he’d never noticed. His dark eyes tracked the movement of her hands on her hat and then the flip of her flaxen locks and his smile was replaced by a heavily furrowed brow.

He wondered if it was his presence that disturbed her so, or perhaps something within the woods. Hopefully it was the latter. Gabriel knew his quiet demeanor could be intimidating, but once you got to know him, or at the very least spent a little time with him you’d come to realize he wasn’t all that threatening. The fleeting suspicion that it could be his breath led him to furtively blow into the palm of his hand, but after sniffing a bit, he found it was actually quite pleasant. When had he eaten peaches? Hrm.

At her snappy response to his simple inquiry Gabriel’s mouth dropped open a little. So much for small talk. He had never been very good at idle chit-chat anyway....

The hand that ad been absently rubbing at his neck went up to push the hood down from his face so he would look less thug-like and he exhaled thankfully when she quickly apologized for her brusque retort. So it wasn’t his breath after all...

Gabriel could understand the desire to get away. It was the reason he was here as well. Of course, aside from the quiet the Forbidden Forest provided, there was also something definitely thrilling that attracted him, but he would never openly admit that to Amelia.

“Oh, the same as you.” He answered in that low rumble of a voice he had. His fingers fidgeted with the zipper of his hoodie and then having nothing else to do with the hand, he shoved it into the pocket of his slacks. “Too early to sleep, too many people in the Common Room...”

Gabriel paused before he made some smarmy comment about snogging couples and an impish grin curved up his lips again.

“So...ahhh...why such a shitty day?” He asked when his curiosity got the better of him, but then he quickly realized she’d come here for peace and quiet, not twenty questions.
“Oh sorry.” He shifted his weight anxiously from one foot to the other and glanced backwards at the castle. “That’s none of my business. Should I...” Gabriel turned back around to face her. “Should I leave you alone then?”

[Amelia Pace]

Give Ame another twenty four hours and she would no longer be fidgety. She’d not be human at all. She’d be curled up in a ball in a cage, or pacing back and forth waiting for the night to be over. The more she allowed herself to think about it, the worst she felt, the more she had to move and do things to distract herself from the whole ordeal. It wasn’t like she could turn around and talk to people about what she went through to get it off of her chest. Although she had Connery, and the other teachers, but it wasn’t the same as talking to your friends. She hadn’t tried to broach the subject with Scotty, but she didn’t want to bring it up.

Mentally kicking herself for her sheer rudeness, she watched his reaction to her curt, albeit truthful, response. There wasn’t much point in lying. She couldn’t pretend to be something she wasn’t, and she wasn’t in a good mood, she wasn’t about to hide it. Her apology seemed to go quite far and he opened himself up to her some more. A simple psychology told her this, through the lowering of his hood. She smiled slightly at him, trying to make herself more accessible, but her current body language shouted ‘Get the hell away from me’ regardless of wanting to try and be friendly.

”Tell me about it,” she scoffed. With so many people in there it certainly didn’t give one enough thinking space. Give Ame another time and she had been one of those couples. But the had comical arguments with her boyfriend at the same time. In that love/hate way, where everybody could see them coming when they couldn’t.

Amelia was half tempted to make a ‘time of the month’ joke about the situation. Which was more often than not the excuse she gave when people masked her anyway. But she didn’t have to reply in the first place, as Gabriel cut her off, claiming to be delving too far. ”Now you’re here,” she answered, she shrugged, ”it’s a free world,” she stood on the stop, rocking from the heels of her feet to the balls of them. ”Besides, I could do with the distraction, I guess,” she was trying to make up for being rude previously, ”As long as you don’t ask me what’s wrong, or how I’m going to kick Slytherin ass,” she smiled.

She looked up at him and tried to bare a friendly grin in his direction. She could do with some sort of company. Being alone only did so much. But it didn‘t take her mind off of the situation. Being able to talk to somebody might just help her to take her mind off who she was for a few minutes.

Most of the time she didn’t struggle so much to hide her affliction, but in the few days before and after the full moon she found herself being accused of acting differently to normal. Before the moon she was a fidgety mess who couldn’t control her temper, and after it she was dragging and ill looking. Then for the rest of the three weeks of the month, she was fine, her usual bouncy flirtatious self. Somebody she’d try to be for the benefit of Gabriel this evening.