No Air (Open)

J. J. shuffled nervously from row and row of the library as she glanced over her shoulder every few second. The library - other than her common room - had turned into her new haunt, and these days she meant haunt in almost a literal sense. She felt like a ghost, pale, silent and not there at all. Not really.

She probably deserved to be a ghost. Why did she and others not...

The girl shook her head, and continued her walk along the corridor of books, worrrying the long sleeves of the Muggle sweater she was wearing. She had taken to hiding in loose muggle close these days. For some reason she suddenly had an aversion to her school robes.

J. J. flinched as someone somewhere coughed. The silence of the library was a double edge sword. It allowed her to feel safe, for the moment, but any sound that interupted it felt almost like a gunshot to her.

She found the book she was looking for and slowly started to pull it from the shelf. It was, however, a heavy tome and the way she was trying to pull it out did not leave much support and the book fell right from her grip, and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

And in the neverous state the young Hufflepuff had spirled into, the sound practically sent her into a panic attack. She flinched back so dramatically she thudded painfully into the shelf behind her, and let out an odd sort of strangled cry.

Half term was in two days, and Savannah was stuck in the library. Well, she could leave whenever she wanted to, but that didn't mean that this letter would get finished if she left. Her mother had came up with the grand idea of Savannah writing letters to a dead person, as a way to grieve.

Glaring down at the parchment, she picked up her quill, about to continue when she heard first a thud and then a scream, causing her hand to veer off course in alarm. Looking up, she dropped her quill, trying to find the source of the sound that had distracted her.

And then she was her. JJ by a bookshelf, looking rather ghost-like with her pale appearance and Muggle sweater. Walking up to her carefully, she stopped in front of her frowning slightly as she picked up the thick book, glancing at the cover before looking up at the Hufflepuff, frowning, though worry creeped into her voice, "Are you alright JJ?"

J. J. brought her hand - balled up in the sleaves of her sweater, completely hidden - up to her mouth as she took shakey breaths to calm herself down. It was just a book. Just a book. She need to, to... she needed to get a grip. But she wasn't sure she even knew where to put her hands anymore.

She jumped again as Savannah appeared. Not nearly as violently as before but still visible.

She attempted to give the girl a shakey smile and opened her mouth to respond and then remembered.

She couldn't do that anymore. The words wouldn't come even if she tried.

Finally she just bit her lip and nodded her head.

Blinking up at JJ as she jumped, the smallest of smiles appeared on her face, "Sorry for scaring you,"

Putting the book under her arm, she reached with other to pat JJ awkwardly on the arm. Watching her open her mouth and then close it, Savannah tilted her head slightly. Why didn't she just talk to her? It would be much easier, and not all questions could be answered with a shake of the head.

"So," Savannah said, handing the book back to the older girl, "What's with the lack of school robes?"

That's okay she thought the words, and again she openned her mouth to say them, but... nothing. Her tongue wouldn't move. She felt the frusteration bubble up in her but she couldn't do anything. The words were there... somewhere... she just couldn't find them.

So instead she just hung her head a bit and nodded, hoping that her point would come across.

The girl took the book back, and ran a hand along the cover. She felt jittery again. All she wanted to do was go curl up with the words. When the words were infront of her from a moment she forgot.

She forgot that she jumped at her own shadow. That she wasn't a carefree little girl anymore.

She forgot for a moment that she couldn't talk.

J. J. looked wide eyed at the girl for a moment - a deer caught in head lights. The words were stuck in her head with no way to come out and she didn't have any action that could describe such an answer.

She didn't even know why she suddenly hated wearing her school robes.

Finally, after balling up her sleave agian, she shrugged, her long hair swishing as her shoulders went up.

This was getting freaky. JJ was a rather talkative person, and now she'd been reduced this shell of a person. Shifting her weight from foot to foot, Savannah stared at her, thinking back to when they'd first met at the Clock Tower. Then, Savannah had been rather focused on selling her out. But now, as she stared at the brunette in front of her, she wouldn't dream of it.

Advancing towards her slowly, Savannah began, "JJ, if there's something bothering you, you can tell me. I'm not going to go crazy and tell the whole school. I'm not one of those girls."

On insticted, J. J. first drew back as the girl approached her. It was only by shear force of will, and reminding herself that Savannah was a nice person, someone she had trusted before, was she able to stop the movment and sort of half shuffle back to where she had been.

She nodded her head, trying to protray that she undestood that she could trust Savannah, but then her instict to try and covay that she just could speaking began to make her shake her head. She was sure the gesture was just all about confusing.

Taking a deep breath she opened her mouth one more time. She was going to get this. She didn't know where her words had gone but she could bring them back. She could, she could she could.

She held her mouth open for a long moment, but all that came out were some small stuttering sound that may or may not have been able to come across as speaking.

Frowning as JJ shuffled away from her, Savannah simply watched her step back towards her. JJ's unwillingness to even be near her was beginning to scare Savannah. There was something very wrong with her, and she was determined to find out exactly what was wrong.

As JJ nodded and then shook her head, it confused her even more. What did that even mean? So did she trust her or not? Confusion visible on her face, she stayed silent as JJ opened her mouth to finally explain her weird behaviour. And her mouth stayed open for a considerable amount of time. As she stared at her, something in the back of her head clicked. Moving closer, she asked in a hushed voice, "Did you lose your voice?"

J. J. could see that she was confusing the girl... and possibly scaring her too. She wished she wasn't, she wished she could be normal again, but it was just...

As Savannah came closer - this time J.J. managed to do nothing more but a half flinch - and spoke the words that the girl had had bouncing about her head for days on end, her face crumpled and she nodded her head.

It was so pathetic. The girl who could not speak. What was there in no words, what was her lack of speech helping? It was too late to help Cecile, so maybe it was too late to help herself too.

Poor JJ. As she flinched, Savannah took a step backwards, biting her lip. If Savannh lost her voice, it wouldn't be much of a loss, as she barely spoke anyway, but JJ - with the exception of Alyssa, who was the most annoying person Savannah had ever had the misfortune of meeting - was a talkative person, and this had to be killing her.

Watching the brunette carefully, Savannah thought deeply, than glanced around at the books around them, "I wonder if there's a spell," she said, speaking more to herself than to JJ, "That can get your voice back. I bet there is."

Looking back at JJ, she smiled, raising an eyebrow, "Wanna help me try and find one?"

J. J. bit her lip. She doubted that there was anything to help her. If she had lost her voice to a cold, maybe magic could be the solution but this...

There was so much more to this.

Still... Savannah seemed to be trying well enough.

She smiled just a little and shrugged. Might as well give it a go.

She nodded her head, and turned to the books.

"Alright," Savannah grinned, rubbing her hands as she looked around at the books stacked along the shelves. Craning her neck to get a look at the titles and authors, she searched for something that could help voiceless JJ.

After a few minutes, Savannah found something that could help. Picking the book off the shelves, she scurried back to JJ. "Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions," Pausing, she glanced down at the book and then back at the girl. "Of course, that's assuming that you lost your voice because of something magical. But who knows maybe there's something here that can help."

J. J. nodded. She pretended to scan the volumes with Savannah but honestly she was just moving her eyes over them .

J. J. tilted her head at the book, and attempted an encouraging smile... though she was pretty sure none of her expressons had gone much past nervous these last few weeks.

Decideding the just get a goo at it, she nodded, and flipped open to book, hoping that this would get her point across that they might as well look.

Nodding at JJ, Savannah headed towards the desk that she'd vacated earlier. Sitting down, she pushed her half-written letter to the side, concentrating on reading through the book in front of her.

Slowly, J. J. followed the girl to the desk and sat down.

She looked blandly over the flipping pages. Some of the spells were interesting to be sure, and she - since some part of her still had her natural magic curiosity - did have a desire to learn them.

But that didn't mean she thought any of them would work. She wanted to be normal again so bad, that she'd try anything. She, however, new that it wasn't just anything that did this, It wouldn't be just anything to fix it.

Flipping through the book, Savannah scanned the pages, looking for something, anything, that could help JJ. Then, she found a spell that just might work. Pulling her wand, she glanced from the book to the brunette in front of her, "Episkey just might work," Smiling at her, Savannah moved her wand towards JJ's throat. "Wanna try it?"

J. J. looked down at the book, and then glanced at the wand nervously. It wasn't that she didn't trust Savannah exactly, it was just everything made her nevrvous these days. And a wand pointed at her was to an extent quiet unnerving.

However, Epikisy was a simple-ish spell, and she did trust Savannah, so after swallowing visibly, gripping the edge of the table until her knuckles were white, and looking away from the "weapon" she nodded her head.

If it would work she'd try anything.

As JJ nodded, Savannah smiled. Good. If she'd resisted, she couldn't exactly force her to let her use the spell on her. Glancing back down at the book, she coughed before swishing the wand as instructed, speaking clearly, "Episkey,"

Putting her wand down at the table between them, Savannah looked over at JJ curiously, hoping that her attempt at healing worked, "So.....how do you feel?"

J. J. swallowed a couple of times, trying to assess everything before she tried what would always be the final out come of this this experiment.

Looking at Savannah the young girl took a deep breath, gathering lots of air, and then openned her mouth and....

Nothing.

She hadn't expected it to work, however the end affect was still disappointing. Giving a wan smile, she reached across the table and patted Savannah's hand, trying to convay that she did not mind that it did not work.

It hadn't worked. Why hadn't it worked? Glaring down at her wand in disgust, she looked down at her hand as JJ patted it. Looking up at her, she feigned a smile before turning back to the book, gritting her teeth. "Maybe there's a different spell, a stronger one that'll work," Nodding, she smiles. "Yes, that's it. All I have to do is find a stronger spell,"

Flipping through the book, shoulders hunched, Savannah began to look for a stronger spell.

J. J. nodded but figured that the girl could not see it anyways for she was so focused on her book.

Savannah seemed quite commited to fixing this. She wished she had a way of conveying that it was okay if she didn't. That it was okay that she tried. Maybe she could write it down.... if she just had some paper.

The girl looked around for her bag and realized that it was not around... perhaps she had not brought it?

Worry began to naw at her, suspicion too. Somehow that missing back seemed to be a problem, someone was trying to get her some how....

She tried taking a calming breath. The theories popping into her head getting more and more ridiculous as she went Honestly she need to stop... just stop. She needed a break or an out or-or-or

Nothing. There was no stronger spell in here that would help her. All the spells were about broken bones or about mending gashes. Nothing here would help her. Slamming the book shut, Savannah frowned, looking over at JJ. As soon as her eyes fell on the brunette, her expression cleared quickly.

"JJ? Are you alright?"

J. J. jumped as the book was slammed, staring wide eyed at it for a long moment before she managed to get her brain to regester that it was not a threat.

She took a deep breath she really need to get a grip.

I'll never be alright she thought sadly as she gave what she hoped was a believable smile and nodded her head. No point on worrying the girl over something she couldn't fix.

She was already trying.

Her frown deepening, she observed JJ carefully, running her fingers down the spine of the book, not taking her eyes off of her.

The smile she'd given her? It hadn't been real. Savannah had given enough of those to know when someone was faking a smile. But then again, JJ couldn't talk. It wasn't like she could ask her for an answer. Sighing, she sighed, leaning back, glancing down at her letter, not wanting to finish it.

Reaching for her bag that hung off the back of her chair, she pulled out a fresh piece of parchment, handing both it, her quill and ink bottle to JJ.

"I want to ask you something, and though you can't talk, you can still write. Is that all right with you?"

J. J. tilted her head and then slowly took the offered paper and quill. She could only guess at what the girl wished to ask, but J. J. thought her guess were probably going to be pretty good.

She didn't want to answer questions, not about that.

But what else could she do?

She nodded her head, putting quill to paper.

Go ahead.