Invisible

Jessica laid on her stomach on the floor, reading.
"Flirting, talking and being a 'little firstie' is bloody hard work..." she mumbled, not really taking in any of the words she was reading. She popped a skittle into her mouth and rested her head on the book. She was tired and alone. Or at least, she couldn't see anyone around.
"What's the harm?" she thought, moving the book away from her and crossing her arms in front of her. Jessica put her head down on them, and slowly drifted off to sleep, ready to attack anyone who woke her up.

Roselia enters slowly. Her cat rushes out from behind her ankles and starts to play with jessicas hair and sees the skittles skattered on the floor and pegins to play with those. Roselia laughs and takes out her cauldron and potion book. "a little practice never harmed anybody...." she notices jessica on the floor. 'huh..' she thinks 'does she know we have class in a few minutes' roselia nudges her gently. "psssst jess"

Certh had spent the night awake, laying in his four-poster still with his slytherin robes on. There were not many thoughts that entered his head, however. He had had quite the day previously; practiced the body bind hex some more, had thought more about the knife he had been tasked with. His mind was almost completely lost on the homework he was given for his several classes: DADA, Charms, History of Magic, and Potions. Even if he had remembered, it would have probably been completed by the time he got into bed.

His gaze continued staring up at the panel above his mattress, not focusing on one thought; but a few. Some caused him not to sleep, too focused on figuring out the knife. His robes could be heard rummaging against his four-poster from down in the Common Room; which was where he planned on heading to 'clear his head'. He quickly reached for his wand, just in case he had needed it for whatever reason; and proceeded down the stairs into the common room, where his gaze laid upon a girl. Jessica. She fell asleep, right there on the floor in front of the still blazing fire place. A smirk arose from his face, she appeared to have taken on too much of a work load.

Roselia appeared to be there as well; the one he had hexed earlier with the body-bind spell. Certh did not appear to look scared, or even frightened. Instead, he made his way over to the couch that was near the fireplace: the heat continued to be carried over to it, causing warmth to fill up his body. "Let her sleep" He told Roselia, at the same moment as he sat down and looked into the fireplace. His hair was still neatly parted in the middle; but did appear a little.. greasy, perhaps.

Alexander walks down tiredly and sees the mess of first years and feels his fists clentch but he smiles fakely "oh shouldnt you kids be heading off to breakfast? we dont you peakish during class do we? now run along?" he wanted to train and the only one who could bear witness was the salamar kid and catching the boy by the robes alexander told him so. "except you, you stay here. we'll eat later."

Jessica rolled over onto her back, still peacefully asleep. Her hair was casually strewn across her face, and her skin was slightly flushed from the heat of the fire. People had told her that she looked five years old when she was asleep; a fact she had never witnessed herself. She heard Roselia, Certh and... Some other boy whose name she couldn't remember. "Sleep? Psht, I was resting my eyes," she grinned, her eyes fluttering open. She didn't sit up, but turned her attention to the other boy. "Aaaaand what if I want to stay here?" she asked, looking at the ceiling of the room. "Hmm?"

The fire continued to blaze, even during that time of day. The light from the flames could be seen reflecting off of Certh's eyes as he seemed content just peering at the fire as it kept burning through the wood that was placed inside. He was startled a little as another student approached, a somewhat masculine voice spoke; although Certh could not remember the name of him, or her.

He turned his head a little, but was grasped by the back of the collar on his robe. But Certh managed to get free by lifting off the boy's hand. He soon backed away a little, but left enough distance between himself and the fireplace to allow himself to still get heat, without catching fire. A smile soon played on his face at Jessica's response as she woke up a little. "thanks - but no thanks. If you two haven't noticed, yet, it is a weekend." He told the boy who seemed to think very highly of himself, and to Rose who was still on the floor by Jessica.

Alexander sighs and shrugs. "listen salamar. theres something i wanna teach you. itll help you on your task. i think of you as an aquaintance kid and im looking out for you." he forces a smile. "so if theres anything you need just let me know ok?" he turns his attention to the girl on the floor. "im sorry but this lesson isnt meant for you."

"I'm sorry, but you seem to have mistaken me for someone who cares," Jessica came back with, propping herself up on her elbows and shrugging; with disastrous results. She fell back down to the floor, and sighed. "I have every intention of staying right here, Bloodbayne. And well, if you think I'm moving, you've got another thought coming."

Jessica forced herself to sit up, wincing slightly at a sudden pain through her stomach. "What the hell was that?" she whispered to herself, shrugging it off and smiling fakely at the boy: a skill which she had mastered quite well since she arrived. "I'm not going to rat you out for anything that you shouldn't be doing. What do you take me for, a snitch? Ha, no. I'll probably have forgotten by tomorrow anyway," she grinned, putting her hand in her pocket and taking out her wand. She looked down at it, half-smiling, and twirled it mindlessly in her fingers.

A small chuckle that sounded like a hiss slithered out of Certh's mouth at her snarky reply to the kid who was a few years older than him, and acted as though he was a death eater. His eyes slowly moved back to the fireplace; the flames continued to burn away at the wood that lay on top. What was it that that boy wanted Certh to do, or to help with? Part of his task - he did not need any help, he was nearly there. A slight reflection of distaste appeared in his eyes as they steered back around to face Jessica who appeared to be struck by a needle. Certh did not think much of it - he was a Slytherin, they were not supposed to care. But him, he had an urge to take her to the Hospital Wing, which was what he should have done instead of standing there, letting the two fellow housed students go at each others throats.

His glance quickly moved between the two, then, deciding he did not seem to be helping matters any; he walked toward the portrait hole that lead out into the hall. Clearly he was not going to get any thinking done there, not even any studying done for his classes that should have already been completed. His face could be seen turning toward the girl on the floor that was admiring her wand. "D'you want to come with?"

Jessica looked up when she heard Certh speak. She smiled up at him and stood up slowly, still in slight pain.
"Yeah, okay," she said, oddly brightly. She stood up and walked over to him, trying to mask the stupid, annoying pains shooting through her stomach with every step. "Where are we going?" she asked, mentally face-palming herself. "Where are we going? Really? Way to make yourself look like an idiot..." she thought, unaware of the fact that she was sending these thoughts to Certh. She stopped smiling and subconsciously bit her bottom lip, her hazel eyes wide and uncharacteristically innocent looking.

The look on Certh's face appeared to be rather calm, straight; almost no emotion was present as a smirk appeared on his lips while Jessica arose. He couldn't stay in that room any longer, not with Alex in there pestering him about some sort of help he believed Certh needed to succeed. (which he did not) That, and he had never really had any time yet to talk to Jessica: first there was that girl that he was talking to when she interrupted, Then the great hall, that never worked out; he had been talking to Karma at the time.

"Thought we could just take a walk around the Castle. Check out some things - there is this one area I want to look around, heard there was a secret there." He slowly replied back to her, his eyes following her not-very-straight-walk in his direction. He had to hold back a laugh, however, when Jessica's thought appeared in his head. Certh had realized that she was in pain, he could tell her winces just by the look; he had felt them before, too.

"Okay, sounds fun," Jessica said, once again uncharacteristically brightly. She rolled her eyes at herself and smirked. "Since when did I become a nice person?" she joked, looking up in pretend thought. She noticed the slightly knowing look in Certh's eyes, but decided against asking him about it. She continued trying to mask her pain, but her eyes had other ideas. They flashed slightly darker each time, and it took her a while to remember why she was hurting. "Aliona..." she gasped, her eyes widening again. "That was today..."

He smiled a little, first time since he had received his acceptance letter by owl. He tried not making a habit of it though, would not want to appear 'weak' to his fellow slytherin pratt's, who mind you, were not very bright. Certh brought his right hand up and pushed open the portrait, showing a rather dark hall - being down in the dungeons, did not get much sunlight. Walking through, he noticed that the sun was just about to rise - must have been early in the morning yet, he thought.

His hand continued to hold open the portait, waiting for Jessica to stride through so they could be on their way. His eyes seemed to perk up a little as she spoke. "Who is Aliona, if you don't mind me asking?"

Jessica smiled gratefully as she strode through the portrait. She waited on the other side with a slight feeling of butterflies in her stomach; something she had never really felt before. She forced herself to stand upright, the way she had always been taught to do by her parents - who were far too strict on mannerisms and all such stuff she never really paid attention to.
"I said that aloud didn't I?" she sighed, suddenly finding the floor quite interesting. "Ah, well. Aliona is my sister. Well, she was... Is, was, one of the two. She died on this day two years ago," Jessica said clearly, not bothering to cover it up.

"She was the only one in my family I ever really spoke to, until..." she trailed off, her voice suddenly cracking. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "Until she was put under the imperious curse and... What's the point hiding it," she closed he eyes and took another deep breath. "And she tortured me. Half to insanity."

He nodded slightly in her direction, muttering the word "yes" under his voice, just loud enough for Jessica to hear. His hand retracted from the portrait as it shut flush against the wall - blocking off the entrance into the Slytherin Common Room from any outsiders. The person in the painting appeared to still be sleeping, not even a flinch when the painting closed. His smile had since disappeared from his face at the mention of her sister. Certh had never had siblings before, being an only child was nice at parts - but he wished that there would be that someone he could confide in about his dreams and promises for the future; he did, however, have a snake that he could talk to whenever he made his way down to the Forbidden Forest. It was a gift from an unknown sender - someone knew that he was a parseltongue and felt the need to send him a companion.

The look on his face then changed to something that could be paired with pain, or shock. Perhaps it was a good thing that her sister died. Being imperiused was a hard spell to muster; would have taken a great wizard or witch to pull it off. But rather then his interest being peaked, which it normally would have been - his mind seemed to stay on Jessica and her confession. "I'm sorry" was all he appeared to be able to say. He was at a loss for words - he had never been put in that kind of predicament before (to care).

"You don't have to be. They just killed her off about a week later. I felt awful, though, because I hadn't spoken to her since it happened... Granted I didn't do much, because when you're on total bed rest for two weeks your list of things to do are quite limited," Jessica smiled slightly. "Life goes on," she shrugged. She tried to act as though it wasn't much, but her mind flashed with images of her past, and she felt the blood drain from her face. She shook her head, and put on one of her signature fake smiles.

"Now, where was that place you wanted to go to?" she asked, trying to change the subject. She pulled the sleeves of her jumper down and stood awkwardly, looking at a spot just over his right shoulder.

After the portrait shut, Certh stood outside with Jessica for several minutes as she spoke more about her sister. He was rather surprised, however, at her reply about him being sorry for what happened. He would have thought that she would be a little teary about the whole thing: sister being imperiused, going after her, then dying. Sounded like quite the traumatic event, even for a Slytherin. He nodded to her, in reply to her shrug, before looking at her as her sight went to him.

"Actually, I do not know for certain where it is. I've just heard rumors about that there are secret passageways - thought it would be fun to go around and search a little before the feast" He replied back to her, turning around slightly and making his way slowly along the dungeon corridor, waiting for Jessica to catch up.

Jessica jokingly rolled her eyes and grinned, quickly catching up with Certh.
"You honestly don't know where it is?" she joked, nudging into him playfully. She looked over at him, biting her bottom lip in thought and keeping the sleeves of her jumper pulled down. "Still, sounds fun," she half-smiled, trying to avoid looking into his eyes, for fear of doing something stupid.

"Don't. Do. Anything. You'll. Regret," she thought to herself, trying to keep her eyes from flashing darker again. She blinked a few times, trying to get her mind cleared, and started humming to herself.

Certh had not really any idea where the passages were - Karma had told him before at the start of school feast that she would show him some, but still nothing. But just the part about spending time together with a fellow Slytherin; one he had somehow felt something for, would be something new and hopefully fun. The sound of shoes scuttling across the dungeon floor filled the corridors as Jessica ran to catch up with him. He did not know how fast she could run, so he slowed down his pace a little more.

There was a slight nudge on his right arm which caused a small smile to appear on his face as he continued his slow walk down the corridor. "No. I have a few.. ideas, but am not certain" Certh replied back to her, his smile remained on his face as he nudged Jessica back a little harder then she had done to him, still somewhat-playful. His arms began swaying a little at his sides as he noticed her humming. "Anything on your mind?"

Jessica, being the overly dramatic person she was, stumbled to the side and fell against the wall. She mock-glared at Certh, and pushed away from the wall.
"Meanie," she muttered, walking a few steps ahead of him. She stopped humming and turned back to look at him. "Oh, huh? Yeah, just some silly girl stuff," she lied, brushing an annoying, curly strand of hair out of her eyes.

Jessica glanced around and opened her hazel eyes wide, looking as innocent as a plotting Slytherin could look. She began humming nonchalantly again, biting her bottom lip and holding tight to the sleeves of her jumper.

Certh chuckled a little at Jessica's remark. He had not put much, if any, strength into the nudge - just a little one to get her back for nudging him. "yes I am" He said back, in a rather amusing joking tone. But he remained behind Jess for a few seconds, looking at the back of her head before she turned around to face him. His eyes met with hers. Girl stuff? He had never heard of such things - of course, he had never had any female friends before.

But his eyes continued to stay transfixed on Jessica as she continued walking in front of him. Not wanting to be behind her anymore, he rushed a little faster then her to catch up and be side-by-side. His arm brushed up against her's even though it continued to stay near her side. "I am serious." He paused, looking toward her as she continued to bite her lip. "anything?"

"You really wanna know?" she said slightly nervously. She had been contemplating telling Certh how she felt about him, but now she was questioning whether it was a good idea. She took several deep, calming breaths and focused on a point in the wall. "Honestly, feel free to say 'no' here," she joked. She tried smiling reassuringly, but it failed, and instead she ended up looking weak and silly.

She turned around to face him, and their eyes locked for a moment. She remained silent, silently wishing that he would say no. She knew that the chances of this happening were next to nothing, but it was worth a shot...

He was beginning to feel nervous, unsure of what it was exactly that Jessica was keeping from him. Was it something academic related? No. It seemed more personal then anything - like when she told him about her sister. Certh needed to think about it for a moment, why was he getting nervous, and was that sweat dripping down his forehead? His thoughts didn't linger on that for very long before his head nodded slightly right before she had turned back around to lock eyes with him. "Actually -" He paused, his glance steering itself down a corridor at the sounds of footsteps - but nothing was there, except for a few sets of armor lining the sides of the corridor. Absentmindedly, he had reached out and grabbed Jessica's arm, pulling her closer to him as he ducked beside another set of armor at the corner of the hallway. "S- sorry" He replied back to his grasping of her arm, and slowly relieved the grip.

Once he had stepped back into the middle of the Corridor, he looked back to Jessica. "yes." His sentence was finished from earlier, but the nervousness came back into him as he awaited the answer.

'Shoot' Jessica thought to herself. He wanted to know.
"I can't say this aloud... You don't know whose lurking around these corridors, and well... I'll uh, yeah," she stuttered, brushing her forehead with her sleeve and nodding. She started breathing slowly, and before she knew what she was doing, she had sent it.
"I've got a huge crush on you," she sent to him. The message was fast, just as she had thought it, and she blushed bright red after she had sent it.

Jessica's heart was pounding in a way she had never felt before, and she could feel herself burning up. "What in the name of Merlin's beard did I just do?" she whispered, looking sheepishly up into Certh's eyes again.

Certh waited for a few moments, he needed to sort through what he had just been told. A crush? No. A huge crush. He was expecting something along the lines of 'lets be potion partners' or something, not something this... personal, and 'serious.' His face almost immediately went to a shocked look, eyes bulged a little bit and his mouth remained open for several seconds.

When he had eventually come back to reality (a few minutes later) he looked to Jessica, who continued to blush. Even himself, there was a little added pinkness to his cheeks then usual. But he was a serious person, he did not have time for this type of relationship. He had tasks to complete, people to please - and perhaps manipulate, but what Jessica said would prove what he, too, had been feeling for a little while now. Did he return her feelings, or was it simply that he was caught off guard.

He soon closed his mouth, it was as dry as a desert within; but there was no water around to moisten it. His ears perked up at her whisper, but rather then him bolting in another direction - which had entered his mind, he remained still - looking into her eyes as her skin turned a little red. "well, then -" He seemed at a loss for words, what would he say: that he had been feeling the same type of thing for her? But after saying that, there seemed no way to come back from that abyss of emotion and passion.

"I - uh." He shook his head a little, but his hair remained still neatly parted. "Sort of -" He, too, felt rather warm. His cheeks began to get a little redder. "like you, too.."