Waiting for You, Stranger

Roxanne leaned against the fence of the Shrieking Shack, a cigarette deftly resting between her fingers. She raised it to her mouth and inhaled, before exhaling a stream of smoke. Her outfit starkly contrasted the dark shack behind her, but everything about her zany fashion was planned. The shorts and long socks to show off her long legs, the colors to accent the red of her hair, the shortshirt to show a peek at her stomach, the colors to make her stand out, the general craziness to make her memorable.

"You make me, feel like I'm livin' a-" She stopped singing to take a drag of the cigarette. Katy Perry, her lovely secret girl crush- not so secret when she was high and couldn't stop announcing how much she adored the vintage singer. She wished she had a joint rather than a regular cigarette, but what could a girl do.

She sighed. The real question wasn't what, but who. She did not understand how she had not hooked up with someone at her party. She heard even Renny Handler, perfect Renny, had snogged someone. Roxi rolled her eyes and dropped her glasses from their perch on her head to her nose, lolling her head in boredom.

It was a strange meeting. Mother had requested for his presence at her birthday celebration. Damien wanted to refuse, knowing how he should find unpleasant company at her party. Marissa Knight was a Slytherin graduate, but had recently found love with a muggle. Damien had felt disgusted at the change in her, straddling between loving and hating her for her decision. He felt ashamed to have a blood traitor so closely related to him. But, after all, she is his mother, and she had never failed in her duty and love for him.

Damien had attended the party reluctantly, spending most of his time at a corner, watching the muggle antics of his mother's new man. In truth, this man is a wizard. Damien just never thought of him as such, given his close ties with muggle friends, of which had become Marissa's friends too. Looking smart but miserable, Damien had offered birthday wishes to his mother and left after an hour. It was the most that he could tolerate, in the company of so many muggles.

Breathing a sigh of relief now that he had, in a way, entered the magical world again, Damien stuck both of his hands into his front pockets as he strolled aimlessly. The miserable expression never left his face. He felt extremely at grief with the current situation of his mother. As he attempted to conjure up methods to change his mind, Damien felt regretful about his lack of talent in the potions department. If he was better, he could jolly well stir up something that would change her back to a proper Slytherin.

Strange that there should only be so few people along this area of Hogsmeade. Damien finally glanced up from the ground to locate himself. Ah, the Shrieking Shack, he thought to himself upon sighting the lonesome house. Before the boy could ponder further upon that thought, the sight of someone participating in his vision of the scene caught his attention. That unmistakeable red hair, and the face of a girl in his year. Cocking an eyebrow, Damien thought to himself: Roxanne Weasley.

Although he does not have anything against the Weasley family, of whom almost everyone in the wizarding world know of, Damien would always be hesitant with regards to his attitude towards them, simply for the fact that their houses never saw eye to eye. The boy could never shake off the prejudice against Gryffindors. Personally, though, he had never held a proper conversation with this Weasley girl before.

There wasn't anyone in near sight from where he is at. Not knowing what to do and wondering if the girl had spotted him, Damien slowed in his tracks as his path neared Roxanne. Cautiously, he surveyed her, wondering what business she could have here alone. Quickly, his eyes landed on her cigarette. A muggle habit? he thought.

Roxi felt the approach of someone long before she could identify them. She could see he was male though, and her interest was caught. She was in desperate need of male company, she was painfully aware. The fact that one was so willingly striding towards her now was all too perfect. And as he got closer she could barely keep herself from jumping in excitement. She recognized him as a boy in her year by the name of Damien. The beautiful part was he was Slytherin- and she had been craving Slytherin.

She pulled out the charm, which was something Roxi had an endless supply of. Some people might think she could be obnoxious and tedious, but really, her right personality seemed to attract most people. She adjusted her legs, kicking one out before tucking it next to the other. She turned, looking over at him as though she had just caught sight of him.

She said "Who is that?" before taking off her glasses- as if that would change anything, seeing as they had no lenses. "Oh! Damien! What a nice surprise!" She flicked her cigarette to the ground and stepped on it, glad to have a distraction. She turned to face him, gripping the railing behind her and swinging her hips a little. "Fancy running into you here," she said in a low voice, mocking a man trying to use a cheesy pick up line. She grinned.

Damien was less amused. For one who had consciously avoided Gryffindors in school, he now found himself alone with one. Scowling a little at the circumstances, he consoled himself with the fact that no one could possibly be watching. After all, appearances are just about everything to the boy. To be seen talking to a Gryffie would be bad news to him. To talk to one without being seen, that would not be a problem, would it?

Briefly, Damien ran through his experiences at school, trying to conjure a memory of himself holding a conversation with someone from that house. None. For someone who also prizes experience of all sorts, he figured that since there should a first time for everything, this would be the perfect opportunity to have talking to a Gryffindor crossed off on his bucket list. He could simply ignore this girl as soon as they return to school again.

Having settled that in his mind, Damien attempted his first civil response to a Gryffindor: "Greetings, Weasley." Slightly annoyed at what he thought to be disrespect that she had used his first name instead of his last, the boy had emphasized on hers in an attempt to fix the situation in his head. He was certainly too uptight about certain issues in life. "Pleasant. Surprise." He continued, finding it slightly hard to keep civil. But he would try. He was adamant that he would.

"Shireking Shack a new hangout of yours now?" That was a civil question, right?

Roxi watched the struggle cross Damien's features and felt a smile creep on to her face. Typically, Roxi was fun loving, carefree, and careless- she liked to party, she liked to make people feel good. But she could feel an excellent opportunity arising to have some fun of her own and mess with the poor boy. He was a challenge, and she wondered what she could convince him to do.

She clapped her hands together, low at her thighs and strode forward, making extra care to accentuate each jut of her hip. "Oh, dear," she sighed. "Have we come to that part where we must hold up that petty grudge? I don't understand it really. Yes, yes, at school it makes for excellent fun, but when it comes down to it, we all have the same needs." She paused, smirking up at him. "Slytherins and Gryffindors know how to have a good time. And we ruin that by sneering. Kendall Rookwood has always been ore than kind to me, and I've been ever so pleasant to him. You seem more determined though. Pity." She stuck out her bottom lip and strode back over to her spot, leaning against the railing. "You're much more attractive than him."

She had cast, now she had to wait and see if it had worked. Some sort of dark seduction had slipped past her typically bubbly demeanor and she might have to keep that act if it worked. At his question, she shrugged. "Not new, but definitely a hangout. No one comes here.. So anything can happen." She grinned.

Damien eyed Roxanne with mild alarm when she began to saunter towards him. She seemed to take care of her movements as she made her way to him. Typically, he would sneer in disgust if this should happen in the sight of others. He held too much pride to loosen up to such a situation, even if the Gryffindor was inviting, rather than sneering back at him. He squinted in confusion, not knowing where to look at. Despite the cold front he had always put up, to live up well to expectations of a proper Slytherin, the boy definitely has a lot to learn. Given his allegiance with the Dark Followers, he had looked up to and emulated many seniors, hoping to encompass all that he likes about them.

Damien felt something strange stirring within him when Roxanne mentioned the same needs. He tried to feign, even to himself, ignorance with regards to her reference. Like every other boy, he is susceptible to, yes, needs. Only pride could deter him. Damien cocked an eyebrow up in surprise at the mention of Kendall Rookwood. The older boy had always been a friend, or better, like an older brother to him. Damien had looked up to Kendall ever since befriending him in his second year at Hogwarts. Now, though, it seems as if there is a side to Kendall that Damien did not know about. What is Kendall doing with Roxanne?! The boy made a mental note. He must ask Kendall. Perhaps it is a plan to get something? Probably to further our cause, he thought, to console himself.

Now that Roxanne had moved back to the spot where he first saw her at, Damien breathed a sigh of relief. Proximity was always a problem to him, and he believed, with other boys too. It is really difficult to run away from seduction when you are ambushed, in a way. The girl's words, though, started to have an effect on him. For an extremely visual person like himself, Damien found it hard to push away images of what can possibly ensue if he gave in to the girl. He wanted to strike himself for such thoughts. Still, he collected himself and muttered some semblance of gratitude to her compliment of his looks, reminding himself that politeness was key to civility here.

After some moments, he decided to pry about Kendall, which is really a way for him to divert the girl's attention away from himself. "So ... you know Kendall?" he ventured, curtly.

She grinned. Oh, she really was a terrible, terrible person, wasn't she? She was really surprised Damien did not know more about her- nearly everyone at Hogwarts had seen her drunk, high, or naked at one time or another. That was sort of her thing. Damien must have been rather focused to miss out on any of the rumors circulating about her.

She was a little more surprised to hear the note of surprise in his voice about Kendall. Everyone knew Kendall's reputation as manwhore extreme. The only thing that set him apart from Elijah Krum was that he would not bed a muggleborn knowingly- though halfbloods and blood traitors were typically excusable. The evidence was written all over the bathroom stalls in the ladies room.

"We've been acquainted," she said, her eyes dancing playfully. To be honest, they had never been alone long enough to do much- besides that one snogging incident at a Christmas party she had crashed- but it was sort of inadvertent that they would, as the two people at Hogwarts that really got around.

"The point is, Kendall knows when there is a time for being picky and there is a time for having fun and letting loose." She smirked widely, reaching up and threading a hand through her hair, shaking it from her shoulders before dropping her hand. She shrugged. "Then again, who says you need to be just like him. I value individuality. Obviously," she added, giggling as she kicked out one leg.

For someone who had spent four years in Hogwarts and looking forward for the coming fifth one, Damien had pretty much been a Slytherin recluse. He had merely indulged himself with people from his house, spending more time in the Slytherin common room than anywhere else in the school. He would enjoy the schemes and gossips that he can pick up in the common room. Apparently, though he has yet to listen to all of it. Or perhaps it is his natural tendency to lose interest in stories involving students from elsewhere, unless the stories involved Potter's Army and the Dark Followers, which are rare, since nothing much is said outside of private meetings. Besides, he had only just become a part of the Dark Followers, and many seniors of Slytherin he had only just began to befriend after years of mere acquaintance.

"Well," Damien started, feeling a little more comfortable since it seems as if Roxanne was stroking his ego indeed. Such weakness. "I am definitely different despite what I would say to be respect for the guy. I am very ... selective." Cautiously, Damien studied the girl, trying to guess at what her intentions are. She was a little too playful and giggly for his liking. Or perhaps he was just biased. Despite his friendship with Kendall, Slytherins are never known for their loyalty, and Damien figured that if the boy had something going on with the Weasley girl, she might know something about Kendall that is unusual or basically something that the boy had consciously hidden. Well, Damien did not know that what Kendall and Roxanne had was merely a brief snog. Any possible secret knowledge is always useful no matter who it is about.

Thinking of this advantage that he could take, Damien edged closer towards the girl. He leaned his back agains the fence that she is resting against too, and ensure that the arm that supported his body is just a couple of inches away from the girl. "So ... anything interesting about Kendall that you like?" At the same time, he thought, if he keeps up with talking about Kendall, perhaps the girl would forget about doing whatever she was trying to do to himself.

She had to keep herself from outwardly giggling- she could tell she was beginning to get through to him, she could see his defenses cracking. She liked to think she was irresistible, because when she really set her mind to it she could get her targeted boy- that did not sound too illegal, right? Still, she knew she could sway Damien, and she was well on her way.

This Kendall thing had really gone too far- she knew what pretty much every other girl at Hogwarts knew of the Rookwood boy. He was a manwhore, he was well endowed, he was at least a gentleman, and he was going to most likely follow in his father's footsteps. There was little about him to have too much of an opinion on. She had seen him leave with Athena Goyle, and she predicted he would slow down on his exploits.

She shrugged, pulling a pack of gum out of her pocket and unwrapping a piece. "I dunno," she said casually, popping the gum into her mouth and she began chewing. "Gum?" she said, holding out the pack. "I like that he knows how to have a good time. That's important and few people know how anymore. I've made it my life goal to teach everyone," she said with a playful smirk.

Damien knew of Kendall's reputation. Perhaps it was even for that reputation that the boy took an interest to seek for ways to get acquainted. Damien was just too naive, thinking that boundaries cannot be crossed, boundaries as stark as the two most warring school houses in magical history. Now that it seems even Kendall had crossed that line, though, Damien began to relax. It was not as if the act had become unpardonable. The boy sighed. Recently, he had found the charades in his life a little too tiring. The mood he had left his mother's birthday with also added to his fatigue.

Nodding, Damien reached for the gum pack that Roxanne offered. Absentmindedly, he threw the gum into his mouth and began to roll his tongue around it. After a few moments of silence, the boy began to mutter. "What's a good time to you." He had a bad first experience with romance. It made him seek fulfilment in seeing himself progress in other ways instead. Damien began to do better at school. He hopes he can say the same with regards to the Dark Followers soon.