Burn. Burn. Burn.

The rain that had blighted Scotland in the days prior seemed to be in no mood to relinquish what land it had conquered and continued its onslaught of Hogwarts. Yet, despite the dismal weather, the castle and its inhabitants stood strong, to the point of all of those above third year going out into the rain to complete their Care of Magical Creatures lessons. Conveniently, Elliot had work in the library with some Hufflepuffs during most of those lessons and so while the others had to get increasingly soggy outside in the cold and the wet, he could stay inside in the warm and stack books on the shelves.

The only downside, of course, was that to try and prevent his self sneezing was like trying to abseil without a harness. Thankfully, the task was over on that particular Thursday half an hour earlier than usual and so Elliot left the library a little after three o’clock. Tucking himself into his robes he found that there was no warmth to speak of in the castle and the sound of the wind blustering against the windows, acting as the weather’s cavalry. The warmth, Elliot knew, could be and would be found within the tapestry-clad walls of the Gryffindor common room and the longer he imagined it, the more he began to yearn for it and so Elliot picked up pace, the feather earring pierced through his lobe swishing from side to side as he hastened towards the Grand Staircase and then ascended up the rapidly shifting stairs towards his location: the Gryffindor Common Room.

Upon arriving, Elliot clambered up the stairs to the boys dormitory, stripped himself clear of his clothes and then dived into his bed, cocooning himself in the covers and burying his head into the pillow that smelt suspiciously of Viola though he could not entirely place why. After around an hour’s worth of sleep he rose once more, somewhat bedraggled, his earlobe bleeding from the earring having pulled during his slumber and his eyes not quite able to focus on the world around him. After shoving a pair of glasses onto his face he got dressed, managing in the process to colour coordinate himself with the rest of the dorm.

Begrudgingly, Elliot threw himself down the steps and into the common room where he found solace in front of the fire, by the couch. Slumping down beside someone else, Elliot lifted his feet up and put them on the coffee table, resigning himself to listening to the idle chatter until Trent came in and they could go out for a cigarette or something.

OOC: Outfit!

Normally the increasingly cold weather didn't bother Damitrius. She usually didn't care that it was getting colder, it was better than being in the hot weather with the sun shining too bright. Damitrius had never liked that, and of course she had a good reason for not liking it. But now, she didn't even like the cold anymore. Especially now that she had to be outside for the Care of Magical Creatures lesson. At least she could actually handle the cold better than the others though. Some of the others in the class wouldn't stop complaining about the cold and how they wanted to be back inside, in their common rooms instead of out there.

Damitrius sighed, trying hard to not just go off on them. They chose to take the lesson and they knew that it would be outside, even in the cold, so it was their faults. Although, in truth, she wished to be out of the cold too. But she wasn't complaining about it for the exact reason they shouldn't be either. Damtrius just tried her best to get though the lesson, so she could go back to the common room as soon as possible. Once it was over, the girl hurried back to the common room, desperate to get into the warmth provided by the fire that was lit. Her boots squeaked a bit as she walked up to the common room, careful that she didn't run into anyone that would try to make fun or anything. She'd had enough of that for one day.

As she remembered that, her eagerness to get to the common room diminished quickly and she stood in the corridor, a frown crossing her face. She hoped there was no one in the common room to ruin the day for her further. Damtrius entered the room cautiously, almost timidly, as if she were a first year who didn't know anyone there again. The immediate warmth that hit her face made her smile and she took her coat off quickly, running up to the girl's dorm to put it away. She rummaged around in her trunk for her sketch pad before she went back downstairs and sat on the couch, flipping through the pages with millions of little doodles that she had never even finished.

Not long after, she was joined by someone, though she didn't even look up from the sketch pad for a few minutes. Finally, she rose her gaze slightly to look at the person who had sat down next to her from the corner of her eye, to make it seem like she wasn't interested that he was there. She recognized him as Elliot Finnigan and she sighed softly, almost inaudiably. At least, she knew that he wouldn't do anything to tease her like everyone else was. She smiled slightly at him and returned her gaze to the sketch pad.

There was no charm in the castle that was in league with that which the Gryffindor Common Room possessed and as Elliot Finnigan lounged deep into the scarlet couch before the fire he felt all the tension leave his shoulders and he truly began to relax. Dropping his feet back onto the floor, Elliot gave a long yawn and sat up a bit, reaching under the rims of his glasses to rub at his weary eyes. The couch was quite lumpy, really, considering the wealth that was instilled in the common room for the Gryffindor students but it was comfortable enough and as Elliot settled himself back against the plush, scarlet pillows that were lined with gold, he realised that someone else was sat next to him – or rather, he was sat next to someone else.

Immediately, Elliot noticed that he was sat next to Damitrius D’Eath and he let a small smile rise to his lips at the sight of her. They weren’t exactly close but he knew her to be a particularly nice individual and, he noticed, she was drawing. Elliot sat forward a little bit and peered nosily over her shoulder though he did not do so in an attempt to be malicious. No, instead he was merely curious. He exhaled gently, his breath brushing against her shoulder, and brought his leg up, curling it under himself as he sat forward a little more, watching as with every stroke of her pencil across the page, more of the picture began to appear.

“What are you drawing, exactly?” Elliot whispered, careful not to spook her.