DARREN ` memories that never will be forgotten .

A loud thump could be heard, followed by a light moan and grumble. Yes, Ginevra Malenki had fallen out of her bed. Again. It seemed that everytime she actually went into her dorm room to sleep, something ended up going wrong- for instance, how she came out of her slumber. Rolling over, she stared up at the roof for a few minutes, crossing her hands over her stomach and allowing a sigh to escape from her lips. Glancing out the window, she saw that the sun was just begginning to rise. Giving out a last 'harumph' to the air as a compliant, the blonde hosited herself up and stretched, walking over to her trunk, pulling out new clothing. Pulling on her undergarments and covering them with a black top and dark blue jeans, Ginevra ran a comb through her long hair and left it to hang down over her shoulders. Exiting the room, she left quietly as to not wake up her room mates, glad that she had done it succesfully, only to find herself tripping over her own foot on the last two steps, crashing at the bottom and startling a couple who had fallen asleep on the couch. Accepting the dirty looks, she got up and whistled to herself as she walked away and out of the dorm room. Moving through the halls, she went straight towards the outdoors, walking through the courtyard to the lake, sitting against her favorite tree almost by instinct. Closing her eyes, she hummed a tune to herself to pass the time.

Having hardly slept all night, Darren Riddle got out of bed as soon as the sun appeared in the horizon. Sighing, he reflected on the fact that it was the third night in a row where he hadn't gotten much sleep, and, if he didn't get some soon he would probably faint at class or something - which would be quite humiliating to say the least. For some reason, lately he could only rarely get a good nights sleep, and he wasn't quite sure why -he had never had trouble sleeping previously. As he moved towards the washroom, he looked around contemptously at his peers, who were all sleeping soundly. With that in mind, he slammed the door as he entered the washroom, not bothering to be quiet about it. Darren was just one of those ' if my life sucks so should yours' type of persons. Looking up at the mirror, he sighed again - there were slightly blue bags under his eyes and his hair was sticking out in all directions. Casually, he washed his face and straightened his hair, or tried to - he only succeeded in making it more untidy. Deciding to give up, Darren once again entered the dormitory, now making his way towards his bed. Now he changed his nightsuit for jeans, a T-shirt and a blazer over it. Next, he pinned his Slytherin prefect badge on the blazer before slipping a cigarette pack in his pocket, taking a book out of his bag and then proceeding to leave to dormitory. You weren't exactly allowed to smoke on campus, but then again, Darren had never given a damn about rules.

He was headed to the lake of course, no matter how the weather was. It was the first weekend since the term had began and everyone usually used to hang out around the lake at this time. Finding his way through the labyrinth of corridors in the dungeons, Darren finally arrived at the entrance hall, from where he proceeded into the grounds. It was sunny outside, with a light breeze. Turning, he headed towards the lake. Darren didn't expect anyone to be there, it was very early in the morning after all, so he was - pleasantly - surprised when he saw who was sitting against the tree where he usually sat. Though he was popular, people usually found it hard to get close to Darren, he was just a very guarded person, who preferred to be alone most of the time. Last year though, against his usual nature, he had made a bunch of non-slytherin friends. Of them, he could safely say that he liked Ginevra Malenki the most. A Ravenclaw two years below him, Darren could not quite remember how they had become friends in the first place, but they got along remarkably well at times. At other times, not really. All friends argue at times, but they did it almost all the time. Pretty much almost complete opposites, they also had different opinions about almost everything. Still, she was one of the few people he could actually call friends. "Look whos up so early," Darren remarked,smiling as he sat down next to her.

As Ginevra sat there relaxed, she listened to her breathing and hoped it would soothe her. The blonde wasn't exactly the type to havee much care in her towards where she slept. It had reached the point where ss long as she slept, she was happy. Generally when the fourth year girl didn't get her sleep, she was moody. A lot of the time she was irritated easily, but then again she wasn't. A smile could be found on her face all the time. She didn't have anything going wrong for her. The Ravenclaw considered herself lucky. She had her home life with her parents both still together, and her sister (though no one knew about her) all waiting for when she came home. At school she made friends easily. Ginevra wasn't prejudice and had friends from all houses- though she didn't have many Slytherins (okay- she had one) but that was because she herself was hard to get along with when it came to the Slytherin's who had an ego. She saw no point to it because no one was perfect, which was why t had been a surprise to make friends with Darren Riddle- a boy who definitely thought he had it going on, though in a different way than most cocky people. Jumping when she heard a voice, Ginevra was an aware person but she hadn't heard him approach her. Opening her eyes, she focused in on Darren, having already known it was him because a) the early house and b) his voice.

A smile settled onto her face as she rested her head back on the tree. "Look who didn't sleep." she remarked, having spotted his bags quite easily. The girl was in Ravenclaw for a reason. One of her biggest traits was that she was attentive. She noticed little details and changes, especially in Darren. Why? That she wasn't sure of, but it didn't phase her either. Ginevra considered it to be because she trusted him in a way that she didn't trust anyone else. Why she trusted him was another thing that baffled her. Deep down Ginevra was aware that she had a crush on Darren, but the girl was insecure. She never thought she would be the type of girl for him, therefore she just stayed herself and denied that it was even true. "I should have known i'd see you out here. Do I have to take a frying pan to your head so you'll finally get some shut eye?" snickering a little, she rolled her eyes at herself. Ginevra was definitely not a comidian. She was far from being funny and she was well aware of it too. Closing her eyes softly again, she waited a responce out. Even if her eyes were closed he had her attention, therefore she didn't consider it rude not to have her eyes open. After all, she didn't have to stare him down to have communication skills. So far, the air was good outside as well as between them. Ginevra knew, however, that they had an argumentive nature. Truthfully, the girl found it amusing. She wasn't sure why it was that way but eventually she had come to expect at least one disagree each time they spoke. Which was a lot- therefore making a statement about the friendship they shared. The blonde didn't have any complimants. They were how they were, and if people didn't like or understand it as far as he was concerned, their opinion didn't matter. It wasn't their life, it was hers, and she liked it how it was.

Darren, despite the lack of sleep, wasn't in a particularly bad mood. On the contrary, he was in a rather pleasant mood. Generally, people were quite upset about school starting again, Darren was opposite . For him, the Summer was just two years of isolation from everyone and everything. He wasn't allowed to meet his friends - hell, he had hardly been able to go outside this time around. So understandably, he was glad to be back at the castle, and to be able to talk to his friends again. Though that was something that he wouldn't readily admit - he usually gave others the impression that he didn't give a damn about them. That was just the way he preferred others to think of him - cold, uncaring. Why? Perhaps it was because he didn't like people getting to close to him, too aware of his pasts and secrets. Darren didn't like getting into complicated relationships. His friendship with Ginevra for example, was just some talking every once in a while, he didn't know much about her, and vice versa and Darren preferred it to stay that way.

Automatically, for some reason Darren rubbed his eyes at her observation, as if doing that would make his appearance change, ha hadn't realized it was so clearly visible. Darren didn't care too much about his appearance but nonetheless, he didn't want to look like a Not laughing at her remark, he just smiled at the attempt at a joke. Few things ever made him do laugh, and Ginevra's jokes certainly didn't. "Thats a pretty good idea actually," he replied, with a short yawn. "Tried to sleep all night. I only went outside now cause I thought you'd be here." Thinking that there were far more interesting things to talk about then his insomnia, he abruptly changed the subject. "How was your Summer?" Darren asked casually, as he hadn't seen her or talked to her since June. "Did anything fun..?"

Overall, Ginevra Malenki was a generally social person. She had her days where there wasn't a person in the world that she wanted to talk too, but the rare occasion they occured the blonde was smart enough to just stay up in her room with a good book so that she didn't accidently ruin someone else's mood. The Ravenclaw had her close friends, and then she still had the people she would wave to in the hallway, or go up to and start up a conversation with if she saw they were alone. The fact about it all, however, was that though she had her friends, nobody really knew who she was. They knew the common facts, easy, common sense related subjects.. but deep down they really knew nothing. The Ravie preferred to keep herself to well, herself. There wasn't a day where she'd not allow someone to rant about their problems to her, but when it came to her problems- whenever she actually had them- she kept them to herself and just moved on with life. It was more simple this way, and that was exactly what she wished to have: a simple life.

Not expecting Darren to laugh at what she had said, Ginevra never considered herself funny, nor would she ever try and take a crack at it. The blonde found that she was only ever funny when she didn't intend to be, and happened to pull a typical 'blonde' move, so to say. Even the brightest had their dull moments. "Oh i'm sure it's just amazing." she agreed sarcastically, letting out a small chuckle just for the heck of it. Brushing hair out of her face, she didn't take notice right away as it fell back into the place she had just moved it from. Raising her eyebrow when she heard his reasoning for coming outside, she merely shrugged. There wasn't going to be much thinking into it, ass he had other girls' on his tail, and she really wasn't too curious about what went on in his mind.. or so she was trying to convince herself. Stretching her arms out, she settled them down on her lap to rest. "Well you assumed right, I guess." she commented casually, thinking of her summer as he changed the topic of conversation. "My summer? It was pretty good! My family and I travelled to Canada for a week and a half. Damn was it windy! We went boating and I water-skii'd. Man, I didn't last long at all.. my balance is shit. Can you believe that?!" Ginevra smiled at the memories, sending a playful wink towards Darren, considering he was getting to know just how clumsy she really was. "And yours?" it was only polite to return the question, wasn't it?

Since his early days, Darren had always had trouble with making friends. When he was younger, at preschool, he had always been the child you'd have found playing alone, sitting far from the large group of children. Even then, before all the tragedies had happened, in the carefree obliviousness of childhood, he had been wary of other people. Apparently, as his father had told him, he had been a timid child, and he had put his fright of other people to bashfulness. Now that seemed hard to imagine. Darren certainly was not shy now, but full of self confidence to a level that it somewhat became similar to arrogance. In the present, he put his lack of friends to his preference of solitude over company, and a distinct distrust in other people. It was difficult for him to look at people without envy, jealousy or hate. Darren presumed, quite falsely, that the others had not suffered like he had, and their carefree and cheerful attitudes infuriated him. Despite that, he could still be charming when he wanted to be, and his skills in quidditch had made him quite popular amongst his house. But only the previous year had he changed in the slightest and opened up to a few people he now considered his accomplices, not friends. He had no intention of getting closer to these people, to her, or so he tried to convince himself.

A hint of a smile appeared on his lips as he observed her slight discomfort. He had said the words just to see what her reaction would be, for he had not truly expected to see here. Not so early in the day anyways. Darren actually chuckled as he tried to conjure an imagge of her waterskiing, he couldn't quite imagine that. He hadn't known Ginevra for long, but the first thing he had noticed was how clumsy she was. He doubted that she could walk ten metres across level ground, with no obstacles near her, without tripping. "That sounds fun," he replied. Canada, he wasn't quite sure exactly where that was, his knowledge of geography was aweful, but he knew it was far away. Personally, Darren would have liked to travel, go somewhere new - he had never been outside Britain. When she asked how is summer had been, he frowned slightly but of course, he had known she would have asked that question. "Very boring. I didn't do much, mostly just stayed at my house..." he replied, and it was quite near the truth. That had happened, but it wasn't just boredom that he had felt. After all, there was quite a large difference between staying at your home due to having nothing to do, and being locked inside forcefully. "But I've kind of gotten used to that by now, all my Summers pass by like that."

When Ginevra had first found out that she was a witch, several feelings came through her. Her family hadn't expected her to be a witch, considering her elder sister hadn't been given the gift but sure enough, at the age of eleven she showed her first sign of magic.. by blowing up the cat. Coming from a family of one witch, one muggle, Ginevra had the best of both worlds. She was aware that magic existed, and for the blonde girl that meant hope that more was possible- that there were possibilities that would be beyond amazing in her mind. Of course with this there were negative things that would exist, though she did prefer to keep those blocked out of her mind. Yes, that wasn't being realistic and typically she was, but Ginevra Malenki was a dreamer, and it came as both a good trait and a flaw once closely examined. Breathing out a sigh, Ginevra's eyes lingered on Darren for a moment. Ever since the girl ahd arrived at Hogwarts, she had made friends easily. When it came to Darren, she had felt an automatic pull, even without talking to him. The typical part of it all was that the first time they were did speak was because she had tripped over her own feet and well, Darren just happened to be there.

Nodding to agree with him, it had been fun. Her summer was one to remember, and one she would hold onto. For a teenager in the time and age she was being raised in, Ginevra was quite family orientated- a rare trait these days. Tilting her head to the side, the Ravenclaw frowned. At home? Why on Earth would he have stayed home all summer?! "Well then I guess next summer i'm just going to have to pop by to make sure you get out!" she annouced, the decision coming easily to her. Though she was not going to admit it out loud, she had thought about Darren over the summer.. more than once. Ginevra always looked past t and thought it was because they were friends, and because she cared for her friends, but then again, she was also quite naive and when she was unsure of something, had a tendancy to look past it for the time being.. something not so smart for a girl sorted into the house of wit. "So Darren. Tell me something, do you enjoy swimming?" the question was random, but an innocent smile appeared on her lips as she asked, a thought having occured to her.

Darren smiled at her reply. He liked the idea, and honestly, he had been quite lonely over the summer, and a visit from one of his friends would have cheered him up a lot, though he would of hardly confessed that to them. He doubted it was possbile for her to visit him though. The problem was his father. Darren's father shared the typical racist attitude towards muggle borns that most other Death Eaters showed, and from what he had seen and heard of Ginevra, he had naturally assumed that she was muggle born. Darren personally did not share his father's hostility against muggle borns. He wasn't so narrowminded to actually believe that muggleborns were beneath him in intelligence and ability. Nevertheless, he acted like they were because well, he just liked to feel superior over others in every way. "Your parents, are they muggles?' he asked casually. It wouldn't make a difference to him if she confirmed it, he was merely curious.

For Darren, their relationship was hardly complex. She was two years younger than he and he thought of her as a friend and only that. Sure, he spent more time with her then any of his other friends, but that didn't mean anything. He just preferred her company. "Umm.. Yeah," he replied slowly to her question if he liked swimming. Truth was, he didn't like it, he didn't even know how to swim, and had never made any effort to learn it. Darren wasn't going to tell her that though, it would be embarassing.

Taken slightly aback by his question, Ginevra knew that some Slytherin's could be prejeduce but considring the fact that he was sitting thre talking to her, combined with the fact that his tone was casual, she passed it off as nothing. The blonde didn't belive his act. She saw passed it and had hope that he could be.. different whenever she looked into his eyes. Ginevra was in no way ashamed of her status when it came to bloodline. Family was an important thing in her life and if people didn't like where she came from, as far as she was concerned they could suck it. "Mum's not. She's a pureblood. But my dad, well, yeah. He is a muggle!" Ginevra spoke this with ease. Her voice didn't change when she spoke about her mom and then moved onto her dad. They were equals in her mind, and never would she see diffeerently. To the Ravenclaw, judgemnt towards muggles that degraded them for not having wizarding powers was like judging a redhead for not being born a blonde. It was out of their control and really, it isn't something that mattered. "Let me guess. You'rea pureblood?" meaning nothing by it, Ginevra was casual as well. A majority of Slytherin's were pureblood, it was just another fact dragged on as time continued.

Whenever other friends saw her out and about with Darren, even though it was a newer occurance, they looked at her funny. 'He's using you!' they'd say, and all she had to say to that was a shrug and roll of th eyes. He had nothing to use her for, therefore they were paranoid. Why couldn't a Ravenclaw and Slytherin be good friends..? She saw nothing wrong with it, and really did enjoy being around him. He intriged her curious mind, but considering the fact that that sounded creepy, she hadn't informed Darren or anyon else on this matter. Nodding as she muled over her thought with the ever-so 'innocent' smile she'd been showcasing. Casually reaching into the opening of her shirt, Ginvra pulled out her wand swiftly and flicked it once. Picking up Darren, she levitated him until he was over the wanter and gently realised. "Good." she'd uttered loud enough for him to hear as she let him go. Laughing to herself, she got up and walkd to the edge, though out of reach from being able to get pulled in.

He could see that his question had taken her aback, made her a little uncomfortable. Still, she probably already thought of him as the typical Slytherin, obsessed with bloodlines with a large ego. But actually, only the second part was true with him. He didn't quite care about whether someone was muggle-born or halfblood. He was not narrow-minded enough to believe that they were inferior, but he liked to treat them as such, in order to make himself seem more superior."Oh, half blood then," he remarked lightly. The majority of wizards were half-blood, so he was not at all surprised. He shrugged at her question, as if the answer was so obvious. "Yeah, of course," he replied. The lie came easily, for he had spoken it so often he had almost come to believe it himself. The thing was, he was not sure he was a pureblood, he certainly hoped so, but he didn't quite know. His mother had died long before he was old enough to care about these sort of things, so he had never asked her. Darren had never asked his father about it either because he was not sure that he wanted to know the truth and because he never trusted a word his father said anyways. Being from such a family though, and having been sorted in Slytherin, no one ever doubted that he was pureblood.

One moment Darren was sitting there, leaning against the tree, then suddenly he was floating towards the water. Darren was usually quite calm in situations like these, and he coolly reached for his wand to reverse the spell. Instead, he fumbled and dropped the wand on the ground, and a moment later he fell into the water. Now, he panicked, for he could not swim and had never done so. He surfaced long enough to scream several curses at Gin, then he sunk back underwater. For a moment he thought he was going to drown, but then realized that the water was not even that deep. Standing at full height, the water just about reached his shoulders. He ground his teeth, that had probably been one of the most embarassing moments of his Hogwarts years. The lake had a bunch of people, and he though he could hear a couple of them laughing as he waded back to the shore. He scowled towards Gin, not being able to take the joke as he had been so humiliated. "That was not funny at all Ginevra," he snapped in a dead serious voice as he watched her smirk.

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meh, sorry for the delay, again o.O
But then again it wasn't entirely unexpected eh.